After a season that saw Manchester United win two (meaningful) trophies only to finish sixth in the Premier League despite spending a tremendous amount of money in the summer, they are a club in flux. While their managerial situation seems pretty settled – Jose Mourinho doesn’t appear to be going anywhere despite being happy to live out of the Lowry Hotel rather than find a Manchester-based home – their squad situation may well not be.
Players like Wayne Rooney – an institution and a legend at United since signing with them in 2004 – Michael Carrick, and one of their marquee signings from last season, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, may well be looking at the door at Old Trafford this summer.
While it could be argued that players like these are either past their primes or have not lived up to their potential, there can be no denying that they’ll need to be replaced. And with United’s size, history, financial clout, and pulling power, realistically nobody is out of reach. So here are five players that they could go for this summer.
#1 Harry Kane
If United want a player who can guarantee goals like Zlatan Ibrahimovic did, then there’s only one answer and it’s Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur. While people considered Ibrahimovic past his prime when he signed for United last summer, the Swedish legend still managed a return of 28 goals – hugely impressive considering it was his first season in England. But with his knee badly injured and question marks over whether he can ever return as the same player, it appears that he may not be returning to Old Trafford.
Kane, meanwhile, has become the Premier League’s most reliable goalscorer over the past three seasons. 2014/15 saw him score 31 goals, in 2015/16 he hit 28, and most recently he scored an incredible 35 goals in just 38 appearances in 2016/17. And he’s not a one-trick pony either – like a prime Ibrahimovic, he can score goals from long range, close range, with either foot or with his head. He also appears to have cemented his place in the England side too, taking over as their main goal threat and team captain.
Could United get Kane? It’d be difficult. He’s a Spurs man through and through and has never expressed an interest in leaving – particularly not when it appears that Tottenham have overtaken United in the Premier League standings – but an offer of something like £120m could force Spurs chairman Daniel Levy’s hand.
#2 Dele Alli
Assuming Kane and Spurs wouldn’t want to part ways, United could head back to White Hart Lane – sorry, Wembley – and attempt to sign their other diamond – England’s brightest young talent, Dele Alli. When Wayne Rooney signed for United in 2004 he had all the hype in the world behind him – just eighteen years old, he’d starred for England at Euro 2004 and appeared to be the most talented young English player since the emergence of Paul Gascoigne in the late 1980s.
While Alli hasn’t quite reached the lofty heights that Rooney did as a teenager, he’s still only 21 and he has made a pretty huge impact on the Premier League since emerging at Tottenham in 2015/16. He was – alongside Kane, of course – their star player during that season, scoring 10 goals and creating 11. And despite a tough summer at Euro 2016 during England’s dismal campaign, he improved in 2016/17 dramatically – more than doubling his goal rate to score 22 and assisting 13.
He’s also got the same sort of swagger that allowed the young Rooney to dominate games, as was seen in his star performances for England in friendlies with France and Germany.
Alli would likely cost just as much as Kane but may not have the same Spurs ties that his teammate does. And with his ability to score and create goals – just like Rooney – he could be a great replacement.
#3 Ross Barkley
It could be argued that Anthony Martial hasn’t quite kicked on like United could’ve hoped after they paid a world-record (for a teenager) £36m for him in the summer of 2015, and after last season Jose Mourinho may be losing patience with the Frenchman.
In order to replace him, perhaps he could turn to another player who gained a monstrous reputation as a youngster – Everton’s Ross Barkley. Barkley has certainly shown flashes of his tremendous potential, both for club and country, and more to the point, unlike Kane and Alli, he’d be readily available to sign thanks to the contract issues he’s currently having with Everton.
What could Barkley provide for United? He’s a creative, attacking midfielder who can also play as a forward, and while his goal record isn’t great – his best return was 12 goals in 48 appearances in 2015/16 – he creates almost as many as he scores (11 assists in that season) and at United – a superior side to Everton from an attacking standpoint – it could be assumed that he’d score and assist with many more goals.
The 23-year-old is an exciting player who shows dribbling ability, pace, power, and a fearless nature – ideal qualities Mourinho may be looking for.
Admittedly he hasn’t lived up to his potential just yet but at 23 he’s still young, and in the last year of his Everton contract he wouldn’t cost the earth either. United could definitely do much worse.
#4 Jack Wilshere
Michael Carrick has called Old Trafford home since the summer of 2006 – for over a decade now – and while he’s been largely unheralded in his time in Manchester, he’s arguably been the man who has kept the team ticking over the years, playing the role of the pass master from the middle of the park. The problem is that at the age of 35, Carrick is clearly miles past his prime and while pace was never a strength of his, it’s a question as to how much longer he can last.
With that in mind, United may feel that they need a new deep-lying midfield maestro. And if that’s the case then they could always go to their bitter rivals Arsenal and make a play for the man labelled the “new Gascoigne”, Jack Wilshere. While he didn’t make as many headlines in 2016/17 on a season-long loan to Bournemouth, Wilshere did prove that away from Arsenal, he can at least stay fit – he managed 27 games, the most he’s played since 2013/14.
When he’s fit and healthy nobody can deny Wilshere’s talents – look at his performance for Arsenal against Barcelona in 2011, his goal of the season against Norwich in 2013/14 and his best showing in an England shirt, against Slovenia away in June 2015. While he might not be an exact replacement for Carrick – Roy Hodgson played Wilshere as a deep-lying midfielder for England to mixed results – a midfield of a fit Wilshere and Paul Pogba would be formidable indeed and should make Jose Mourinho consider the move.
#5 James Rodriguez
Wayne Rooney has long been considered United’s talisman – even as his powers began to wane in around 2013, he was still the man that the Red Devils could depend on to pull something magical out when the chips were down to win or turn a game. As he heads out of the door at Old Trafford though, a new talisman is needed – especially as Zlatan Ibrahimovic already seems to be gone and Paul Pogba is still growing as a player.
That’s where Real Madrid’s Colombian wizard James Rodriguez could come in. While he carries a heavy price tag - £70m, supposedly – that’s almost small change in today’s world for a player who was the most outstanding in the 2014 World Cup, a player who can both create and score goals – some of them as spectacular as even Rooney or Ibrahimovic’s best, such as his stunner against Uruguay in said World Cup.
While he hasn’t figured much for Real Madrid recently in particular – he only appeared 32 times in 2016/17 and wasn’t involved in their Champions League final win – it doesn’t make him any less of a player, and if United want to find a new talisman, then a marquee signing like James could well be the correct move to make. The fact that he can play in any number of positions – as a forward, attacking midfielder, winger and playmaker – would help, too.
