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The signing of Athletic Bilbao playmaker Ander Herrera was confirmed by Manchester United on Thursday evening, with the Spaniard joining them on a 4 year deal, with an option to extend for a 5th season.
In this article, we take a look at his last season’s performance , and how he would fit into the Lous van Gaal’s starting XI:
Last season with Athletic Bilbao
Ander Herrera had started his career at Real Zaragoza, however, he would soon go on to join his hometown club Athletic Bilbao three seasons later. Athletic Bilbao had a season they would like to look back and cherish as they finished fourth on the league table behind Real Madrid, making a cut into the UEFA Champions League, and much of the credit goes to Herrera and his heroics for the Basque side.
With an average of 3.1 tackles per match and 50 passes per match throughout the season, Herrera offers the kind of balance that is rare to see in attacking midfielders these days. He is an equal threat in front of the goal, having found the net on five occasions, and setting up five goals as well for his team-mates.
In an interesting observation by Squawka, they have pointed out that Herrera with 74 has won more tackles in the Spanish domestic league this season than any other player who has been picked up for the Spanish World Cup team.
| Tournament | Apps | Goals | Assists | Yellow | Red | Man of the Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Liga | 31(2) | 5 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 3 |
Herrera’s freekick against Rayo Vallecano this season:
How does Herrera fit into the team?
Technically a central attacking midfielder for Athletic Bilbao, Herrera is most likely to take up the deeper central midfield role, partnering Michael Carrick as Manchester United’s new manager Louis van Gaal would like to focus on the team’s weakness at regaining possession this season.
His ability to create chances and tracking back to defend will certainly be an improvement for the Red Devils from Tom Cleverly, and is a much quicker and aggressive player than United’s other target, Cesc Fabregas who had recently agreed to join rivals Chelsea.
Having him on the pitch will allow Carrick to play in his much natural deep-lying, holding midfielder role, with Herrera playing ahead of him.
Verdict
A hard-working midfielder, unlike the stereotypical Spanish midfielders, Herrera is the kind of a player who is not afraid to dive into tackles, the kind United needed without the need of hitting the £50m transfer territory mark they would have required to for players such as Bayern Munich’s Toni Kroos or Juventus’ Arturo Vidal. Now, people might argue that a fee suggested to be around £28m is a little overboard for a player who failed to make a cut into the national team for the World Cup, however, for a team such as Athletic Bilbao, it perhaps makes sense since they are usually very reluctant to let go off their star assets.
A sure improvement from the current set of central playmakers United has to offer now, Herrera will be one of the players you would want to watch out for in the Premier League if the move happens to be a reality.
A brilliant video compiled by Scout Nation:
