Manchester United still need an elite defensive midfielder.
While the club have done brilliantly to secure the services of Jadon Sancho,
creativity and pace have been less of an issue for the club than central security.
The McFred double pivot offers reasonable ball progression and defensive effort,
but if United really want to challenge for the title they need more in this region of the pitch.
Wilfried Ndidi remains the gold standard as a Premier League destroyer but Leicester are no
longer the selling club of old. They are recruiting smartly under Brendan Rodgers
and are a legitimate challenger for Champions League places, so any bid for Ndidi would
have to be astronomical. He’s still the smartest pick, though. Another previous Sensible Transfer
suggestion, Teun Koopemeiners, who may be Atalanta-bound, remains a strong prospect
for a positionally brilliant progressive deep passer, while Ibrahim Sangare has excelled in
his first season at PSV as a dynamic screening player who can also get the ball forwards.
United are also strongly rumoured to be looking at Eduardo Camavinga. He’s a stellar prospect,
but would not be ideally suited to what United need unless they also bring in someone
alongside him. Camavinga excels at the side of a midfield three and while he is a great tackler,
using him solely as a defensive pivot restricts his ball-carrying ability; he, too,
would need an anchor alongside him at United just as Rennes have deployed Steven N’Zonzi.
Assuming United retain the 4-2-3-1, this anchor needs to have excellent defensive numbers,
an imposing physical profile, and should at least be able to recycle the ball;
the clever, progressive passing can be done by someone else.
Wilmar Barrios has been one of Colombia’s most important players since his debut in 2017 but,
despite consistently high levels of performance, seems to have been overlooked
by Europe’s top leagues. This is odd: the 27 year old Zenit player has a wiry strength,
good pace, and excels as a midfield destroyer.
Barrios is a defensive machine. According to Wyscout, he makes 13.4
successful defensive actions per 90; for context, Ndidi shows up with 12.2 per 90.
Barrios wins 66% of his defensive duels; only Hertha’s Santiago Ascacibar completes
a comparable number with a higher percentage of success in Europe’s top five leagues.
He tackles, intercepts, and uses his body well to shield the ball once he’s won it, affording
his side good opportunities to transition. He’s actually a decent carrier of the ball too, and
will often look to turn a loose ball recovery into a chance to bring the ball forward at pace. This
dribbling ability and control, although not often on show, also means that he can retain possession
in tight areas too, making him a useful option in the congested midfields of the Premier League.
He’s mostly conservative with his passing, moving the ball to more creative players,
but he can sit in the pocket and spray long passes out to the left-hand side which he does to good
effect for Colombia. He could be better in the air, but United have an aggressive, aerially
dominant centre-back in Harry Maguire who can push forwards to help in this area if required.
Barrios is also a winner. Since he moved to Boca Juniors in 2016 aged 22,
he has won the top-flight in five of six seasons,
completing a hat-trick of titles with Zenit in 2021. This intensely competitive character
is clear to see when watching Barrios play. He wants to win every ball, cover the pitch,
and United would benefit from this as much as from his indisputable defensive prowess.
Diadie Samassékou is a hugely industrious, energetic defensive midfielder. More of a
screener than an anchor, he buzzes around the pitch, making tackles, anticipating passes to nip
in and intercept the ball, and has a mostly good awareness for when to move the ball short, switch
the play, or try a long through-pass. Having come through the RB Salzburg system from the age of 20,
his industry and commitment to pressing should be no surprise; two seasons for Hoffenheim in
the Bundesliga has added some finesse to his game without compromising his defensive excellence.
Hoffenheim use a variety of systems but Samassékou and Florian Grillitsch operate both as defensive
midfielders and ball progressors, swapping roles within games as the situation requires.
Samassékou’s passing can be a little awry, but he’s clearly encouraged to
hit lower percentage balls for Hoffenheim’s attackers to chase,
and, at 5ft9, he could suffer in the air against bigger midfielders.
Samassékou is less a straight Barrios alternative, and more of an upgrade on Fred;
he does have attacking instincts in transition and although this might compromise the midfield
solidity that United should be after, it could be a more natural fit as well.
Azor Matusiwa, who came through the youth ranks at Ajax and won the Dutch second tier with their
reserve side in 2018, is a superbly intelligent defensive midfielder with great positional sense
and solid defensive ability. According to Wyscout, he makes 12.7 successful defensive actions per 90
and over nine interceptions a game adjusted for opposition possession.
He’s a great reader of the opposition, smartly adjusting his position to keep
his team’s defensive structure intact, and also drops in well to assist build-up.
Groningen mostly use a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, with Matusiwa the deepest player.
He’s a tenacious ball-winner when it’s there to be won, while in attack he is aware of when to
launch longer passes or circulate the ball having won it back. Physically he’s robust,
although at 5ft8 he’s not aerially dominant; this is compensated for by his reading of the game,
though, as he can push up when required to close players down,
or drop off to defend space if that’s the better option. He tends not to lunge into tackles either,
shepherding players away from the danger area and allowing his team to regroup.
He’s more of a gamble than the other two, less exposed to the rigours of international
football than Barrios and without top-flight experience like Samassékou,
but at 23 could develop further. He has won youth caps for the Netherlands, though,
and not looked out of place in a fiercely competitive squad.