Why this energetic destroyer could bring Manchester United’s midfield back to life

It is no secret that Manchester United are suffering from a real crisis in central midfield. The position that was once occupied by the likes of Paul Scholes, Roy Keane and Bryan Robson is now seen as one of United’s weakest positions. Michael Carrick is out with injury, whilst new signing Marouane Fellaini hasn’t lived up to his price tag. Tom Cleverley looks less like a Manchester United player with each passing match whilst Ryan Giggs is nowhere near the player he once was.

Clearly there is a problem and it would be amazing to think United won’t try and bring someone in during the January transfer break. It is a glaringly obvious problem and if Moyes just ignores it then it could end up hurting their chances of making the top four. He needs to hold up his hands and admit they need to sign someone and not be embarrassed by it.

One man who could certainly inject some dynamism to the struggling midfield is PSG’s Blaise Matuidi. The Frenchman was very much on the outside at PSG a while back but now he is arguably one of their most important players. This season he has been part of a select few whose hard work has gone largely unheralded. Nevertheless the work they do is incredibly important and has played a huge part in the champions’ success this season.

PSG Top Performance Scorers This Season

So far this season only Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva have scored higher than Matuidi’s Performance Score of 589 in Ligue 1 and if you throw in his 187 from the Champions League only Zlatan can beat him. Clearly not bad going for a midfield and especially in a team with PSG’s riches. His passing accuracy stands at a very healthy 91% and he’s won 78% of his tackles so far this season.

He’s a very energetic midfielder, capable of covering great distances in a match and here we may have the main problem to his potential move, aside from the obvious question of why he’d want to move. In Paris, Matuidi is part of a midfield three that complement each beautifully well. Thiago Motta is the deep-lying playmaker, capable of breaking up attacks as well. Marco Verratti is the elegant ball player, capable of playing defence splitting balls and Matuidi is the engine room, he’s the one who gets PSG going. He’ll take the ball of Motta feed it to Verratti and then be up the other end of the pitch supporting the forwards in a heartbeat.

If he were to move to Old Trafford then he would almost definitely be a part of a midfield duo as opposed to a trio and that could effect his game. David Moyes could find a way round this if he were to operate with Wayne Rooney as a very advanced midfielder but it would probably just end up wasting the Englishman’s talents.

Matuidi is a class player though and he would definitely add something to their team. Whether or not it would affect his game remains to be seen though and obviously it is unclear whether he’d even be interested in a move. If he does become available though he is definitely one player David Moyes should be looking at.