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It’s been quite a tough season until now for the Red Devils as they seem to be struggling with their form all throughout competitions. The stats show that the quality which we associate with a certain Manchester United is clearly missing and the team is extremely low on confidence. There can be various reasons to be outlined, like the defensive tactics being forced as a strategy, the way team selection is made, lack of individual brilliance from the top players in the team and the list goes on. Things might definitely take time to change but one of the probable solutions to these problems can be of the signing of good quality defenders, the area which is posing the most problems for this side. The signing of new players would directly mean a closed door for some of the players in this team and we highlight the ones who have unfortunately made it to this list. These players have been excellent in the past seasons for the club and have produced good performances, but in these harsh times, Jose Mourinho would definitely take a tough stand to compete for that top 4 finish and make the most out of the Champions League run. Also, a lot of work needs to go down to bring that chemistry back amongst the players and the transfer window offers that freedom to the coach to plan for the same. It'll be very interesting to see who Mourinho plans to release and who he plans to recruit to get the team back to where it should be but these 5 players outlined will definitely be on his mind to make good things happen for the team.
#5 Ashley Young
Young played a very crucial part in the last season in helping United finish 2nd in the Premier League but this season has been an absolute opposite of that. Having played more than a 1000 minutes across competitions, he has only been able to keep 2 clean sheets and as an attacking right back, he has managed to only have 2 assist to his name. The stats are not in his favor and with just months to go before he turns 34, age also seems to be a matter of concern. Young’s contract expires in June 2019 but given the form he is in, United would probably entertain offers this winter for him. It has become very necessary for United to prepare Dalot, an exciting and talented right back who can replace the likes of Young and Valencia both and give them the stability in that area by the start of the next season.
#4 Marcos Rojo
Second in this list, is the promising Argentine, Macros Rojo. A pool of talent and a great performer, Rojo’s time at United started pretty well and the critics also had good words for him but things have changed quite a bit since then. Being extremely injury prone and with hardly any game time this season, it seems like an alarming situation for him. He is not someone who would be looking for a different club at this point in time but with a decent market value of around € 20 million Jose Mourinho wouldn’t mind making some business from the center-back to accumulate that corpus for the player he has been looking for, to play at the center of the defense. Injuries have been a little too harsh on Rojo but this has left no option for the coach other than to think of a probable player who he can count on for consistency and regularity in the team.
#3 Eric Bailly
Next on the list is the player from Cote d’Ivoire, Eric Bailly. "An absolute beast”, the name which was given to him when he started his career at the theatre of dreams has started to dilute down to a great extent. The past 2 seasons went really well for him but this season has been particularly low, injury is one of the reasons and the other being poor form. It seems Jose has completely lost trust in him with the kind of blunders he made at the start of the season and participation in 5 premier league matches out of 14, highlights the point well. Bailly still has 2 years on his contract but it is highly unlikely that he will feature in many matches to come if Jose continues to be at the helm of this team. Manchester United can probably gain somewhere close to the same value of € 30 million for what he was bought for, given the interest from other premier league clubs or offers from Spain and that would be a sight of delight for Jose to get that value.
#2 Phil Jones
Once regarded as one of the best defenders of his time to struggling to find his place in the starting XI today, Phil Jones has seen it all. Just 2 premier leagues appearances and 1 champions league game, Jones has not got much to say about his game. He is again amongst those players who aren’t in the good books of the boss and if this continues throughout the whole season, there seems to be no point in continuing this way for the better of both, the clubs as well as Phil. He can be out on loan amongst the premier league clubs for about a year and a final decision can be made by the end of his stint given the performance he produces where he goes. He is a very promising individual and has been very instrumental in United's success over the years but things have started to fall apart for him and there needs to be something which needs to be done to improve the situation for him at the club.
#1 Andreas Pereira
A very popular and talented mid-fielder at a point in time has failed to create an impact on Jose Mourinho and not everything can be blamed on him. Being caught to the tactic of poor team selection, Andreas hasn’t got enough games to offer his services. Even after constant failure with mid-field options which Mourinho has selected, he hasn’t trusted the young Brazilian enough and he has been warming the bench for a long time now. As per sources, Pereira has also denied a contract at the club, which makes it very evident that the young lad has no intentions of staying at the club if things don’t improve considerably.
The main priority of these funds can be set to cash in on funds to utilize it for a good commanding central defender who can better shape the future of the club this season and try to get things back to how the fans across the world demand a certain Manchester United to play.
