Manchester United: Ranking the 3 best centre-back pairings

#2 Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof

Manchester United v Chelsea - Premier League

Now, this won't be a very popular opinion given how the fans are yet to take to the big Swede at the back. However, Victor Lindelof's quality is there for all to see and given time and a steady run of games and time on the pitch, he could go on to be United's main man at the back.

Eric Bailly can be a rock at the back. He is United's best defender by a mile. Bailly has excellent ball control for a defender and can bully any attacker off the ball with his strength. His tackling is a joy to watch.

Why this pairing is ranked second is because of how well they complement each other. Eric Bailly is the strong bully who will see off the danger and Lindelof will be the one spraying passes forward into midfield and at times, even the final third.

Lindelof is undoubtedly United's best passer among defenders and he and Bailly could be one mean team that can give any attack a right scare.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Shambhu Ajith