By Mark Weasley
Recent media reports suggests Jose Mourinho is looking to sign Jerome Boateng, but the defender didn’t cover himself in glory in Germany’s 2-1 win over Sweden.
Not only did he get himself sent off with a very clumsy challenge while on a yellow card – which could easily have cost his nation a place in the last-16 were it not for Toni Kroos’ dramatic winner – his positioning was suspect for the opposition goal.
Is this a player on which we would want to pay, as other reports have claimed, £50m to Bayern Munich?
There is another perspective. It would be wrong to judge one player too harshly on one game in which other players were at fault: for example, Germany’s full-backs Josh Kimmich and Jonas Hector showed little defensive awareness.
Nobody can play 258 games for Bayern Munich over seven years, win 17 honours including the World Cup and Champions League, claim 11 individual honours and be a bad player: even if he did once play for City.
When we look at our current centre-back options: Victor Lindelöf and Eric Bailly are still learning, even if the latter impressed last term when fit, while Chris Smalling and Phil Jones aren’t the most comfortable in possession.
By contrast, Boateng is an attacking centre-back and there can be benefits to that: opposing teams rarely think about having to contain defenders and therefore sometimes they can find more space in the opposing half.
If Mourinho starts to think about defenders in terms of what they can do with the ball as well as their aerial ability and discipline, that could be healthy for the squad’s evolution into the modern game.
There is no denying though that Boateng looked off the pace in that particular match and it is possible that injuries mean he isn’t the same player that was one of the best in world football four years ago.
Here is what some of our fans have tweeted about his performance.
jerome boateng doesn't really look the part. we should look else where. #mufc.
— Segun Hassan (@SegunHassan_) June 23, 2018
Roy Keane? “Jerome Boateng? I heard he has 650 pairs of shoes, he can’t be right upstairs!” Classic Keano. ?? #mufc [ITV]
— santino Nonso (@santino319) June 23, 2018
Can you imagine that Boateng alongside Jones or smalling. Please God no !!!!! #mufc
— manchester16 (@briangemma) June 23, 2018
There is a reason why bayern want to sell boateng & it was clear today
— Mufc20 (@Mufc7249) June 23, 2018
If mourinho signs that Boateng he's finished. Terrible player ! Nowhere near good enough #mufc
— manchester16 (@briangemma) June 23, 2018
How can United be linked with Boateng. He is truly awful. The Fellaini of Defenders ??♂️ #mufc
— Nick Newell (@_NickNewell_) June 23, 2018
Clearly Mourinho is looking for another centre-back; whether Boateng is the answer remains to be seen.
