According to reports from The Daily Star, Manchester United are ready to sell Paul Pogba and have identified a series of English players they would like to sign using the funds generated by his departure.
What’s the word?
Read between the lines and Pogba’s sustained absence this season – his last Premier League start was in September – has been more than a little suspicious considering he revealed a desire to find a new challenge in the summer and his contract will have just 12 months left when the season ends.
Combine that with Fabrizio Romano’s report for The Guardian claiming the Frenchman wants to leave and United have valued him at £83m and the writing seems pretty much on the wall.
The Daily Star take the story a level further. They believe Ed Woodward wants to sell Pogba before the start of Euro 2020 (which actually seems counter-intuitive considering the value international tournaments tend to add to even already-established players) and the funds could then be put towards United’s “major summer recruitment drive”.
That appears to be based around attracting the best available English players with James Maddison, Jack Grealish and Jadon Sancho all said to be on United’s radar, along with Eric Dier.
Sancho the only signing that makes sense
Seeing Grealish and Maddison linked with Old Trafford is nothing new, but do United really need to sign either of them now that Bruno Fernandes has been brought to the club? Somewhere between a No.8 and a No.10, the January signing likes to burst forward from midfield and either score goals or create them – he left Sporting with 63 goals and 52 assists.
So unless United are suddenly going to start operating in a style akin to Manchester City that allows them to operate with two roaming No.8s in Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva (and even Pep Guardiola often opts against playing both in big matches nowadays) it’s hard to imagine how Grealish or Maddison could fit into the same team as Fernandes, without them getting in each others’ way or having to refine their natural games to accommodate each other.
Compare that to United’s situation out wide, particularly on the right. Daniel James has done a decent job since coming in from Swansea with three Premier League goals and six assists, but he’s still some way shy of being that elite attacking presence United can rely on week in, week out. He’s still waiting for his first goal contribution of 2020.
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Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial are as much centre-forwards as they are wingers, and after that United’s squad reduces to the likes of Jesse Lingard , Juan Mata and Tahith Chong. In combination, they’ve contributed to just two Premier League goals this season.
Clearly then, while signing Maddison or Grealish would only seem to confuse the midfield balance at United, Sancho – with 13 goals and 14 assists in the Bundesliga this season – would immediately upgrade and improve an area of United’s squad.
Of all the Pogba replacements mentioned by The Daily Star, the English winger is the only one who actually makes logical sense.