Manchester United are being linked with three Premier League-tested centre-backs as January approaches, with Nathan Collins, Calvin Bassey and Jarrad Branthwaite reported to be on the club\u2019s shortlist. The Daily Mail claims the trio are under consideration, and any move would sit within a recruitment strategy that has increasingly focused on players already familiar with the division.<\/p>\n
The need for defensive reinforcement has grown more obvious amid uncertainty over Lisandro Mart\u00ednez. His future now looks precarious after he publicly aimed criticism at Jason Wilcox, the sporting director who has yet to bring in a player capable of challenging the Argentine. If Mart\u00ednez were to leave in January, it would also be United\u2019s final opportunity to receive a fee before his contract expires next summer.<\/p>\n
The three targets share a number of traits. Collins, Bassey and Branthwaite are all tall, physical and experienced in the Premier League, though each offers something different. Collins, 25, stands at 6’4″ and has 154 league appearances plus 40 caps for the Republic of Ireland. Bassey, 26, is 6’1″, with 104 Premier League appearances and 47 Nigeria caps. Branthwaite is the youngest at 24, the tallest at 6’5″, and has 94 league appearances, along with three England caps.<\/p>\n
Collins appears the best fit for a side that wants defenders comfortable in a high line. He has shown resilience before, including after a difficult day in December 2023 when he was at fault for two goals in a 4-1 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Thomas Frank told him, \u201cIt will never be worse than this,\u201d and Collins responded by scoring against Wolves in the FA Cup less than a month later. Within 18 months, he was made club captain.<\/p>\n
Branthwaite\u2019s value lies in his aerial strength, especially in a more compact system, while Bassey has developed into a progressive passer under \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa. Arbeloa said earlier this season, \u201cFor me, right now, he\u2019s one of the best center backs, not just in the Premier League, in the world,\u201d and also urged Fulham to extend his contract.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United are assessing Collins, Bassey and Branthwaite as January defensive options amid Lisandro Mart\u00ednez uncertainty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2028,172],"tags":[1162],"class_list":["post-22404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united-transfer-news","category-epl","tag-analytics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}