After a season without the Champions League, Louis van Gaal will be looking to strengthen his side. Read below, for the lowdown on who Manchester United should be targeting this summer, as well as who they should sell. All football fans will expect the mighty Manchester United to be very busy this summer. Especially after a season without no Champions League, the club are two matches away from a place in the group stage. Here are three positions in which Louis van Gaal’s men need to improve, as well as the players that the club should sell this summer.
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Centre-back:
Due to many injuries within the defence and an inconsistent centre-back partnership, Manchester United must work on buying a centre-back. The player they should enquire for should be one who can be available for most games of the season and has vast amount of experience at the top level. Only few players come to mind, which are Nicolas Otamendi, Diego Godin and Mats Hummels. If one of the three players arrive at the club this summer, it will most definitely bring experience and some leadership to the defence which has been missing during the past twelve months.
Central defensive Midfielder:
Many Manchester United fans would definitely expect the club to sign a defensive midfield player. The reason why, is because United’s current player in that position, Michael Carrick has missed many games this season and is also ageing. Manchester United should be targeting players like Morgan Schneiderlin, Ilkay Gundogan or Radja Nainggolan as main players who can replace Carrick this summer and with their abilities, they can surely be playing the central defensive midfield role as a suitable long-term replacement, for up to five years. Daley Blind is the only real other option in that role, but the Dutchman’s preferred position is at left-back. When both players are out it would mean that three to five players in the first-team would have to play in an unusual position which goes on to Manchester United not given the license to play their own style.
Striker:
Manchester United’s strikers have not met the expectations of the fans this season. The fans haven’t been the only ones to moan about the amount of goals the strikers have scored, the manager Louis van Gaal himself believes he needs a twenty-goal striker. League goals this season: James Wilson (one goal), Radamel Falcao (three goals), Robin van Persie (ten goals) and Wayne Rooney (12 goals) so that is 26 league goals between the five players. This seems embarrassing considering players like Sergio Agüero, Harry Kane and Diego Costa have scored at least 20 league goals on their own. So Manchester United should consider looking at Karim Benzema, Edinson Cavani or Gonzalo Higuaín to sign in the summer, especially with Radamel Falcao looking to go back to AS Monaco as his loan has now been completed and van Persie being courted by several clubs in Europe, especially the Serie A and Turkish leagues.
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Rafael:
The Brazilian right-back has struggled to impose himself as a regular starter in Louis van Gaal’s first-team, so for the majority of the 2014-15 campaign, the Dutchman has utilised Antonio Valencia in a less-than-established, make-shift position, with the pacey Ecuadorian normally preferring to play on the wings. It’s a good time for both Rafael and the club to part in different ways, the club wants to move forward so they would need a right-back who is composed and has discipline in him. Also, Rafael is only a 24-year-old, who has a long career ahead of him – all depending on who will sign him and hopefully he is successful with whoever he joins.
Jonny Evans:
Marcos Rojo, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling are all ahead of the Northern Irishman in terms of first-team selection, It just has not been Jonny’s year this season, as he’s been poor in the majority of the matches he has played, has no confidence on the ball, looks tame when going into challenges, was given a six-match suspension for spitting at Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse and has been outshone by his compatriot, and youngster, Paddy McNair. The only reason as to why Evans got to play a couple of matches under his belt consistently was due to the fact that numbers were limited in the defensive side of things, as the majority of players were injured at different times throughout. Otherwise, the player had no real first-team opportunities and it seems best if he leaves the club this summer and maybe go to a mid-table team in the Premier League where he may get the chance to play matches week-in, week-out again.
Luis Nani:
Last player I think should leave this summer, is Portuguese winger Nani. The player, who has had a decent season on-loan at Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon, will be back at Manchester United but will not be expected to play any games next season. The likes of Ashley Young, Juan Mata, Angel di María and new signing Memphis Depay would most definitely be ahead of him in terms of first-team plans. The 28-year-old, who is on around £120,000-a-week, shouldn’t be at the club anymore after failing to reach his potential a long time ago. in the summer we negotiate for transfers we could send Nani to the opposite club if we fail to find a buyer. He has had one or two good seasons at the club but after that, he just didn’t get into the team which made him lose his confidence and his touch – which he was known best for as well as his ability to do skills. So it’s more straightforward to see a switch being known as Depay in and Nani out.
