Michael Carrick has acknowledged a clear tactical question at Manchester United: how to restore consistent width on the left. \u201cI think you\u2019re always looking at the balance of the team and the squad to give you the utmost flexibility, so it\u2019s definitely something to look at, for sure,\u201d Carrick reluctantly admitted this midweek. Pushed for a bit more certainty on the club\u2019s pursuit specifically of a left-sided forward, Carrick smiled: \u201cQuite possibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The club\u2019s recent shape under the influence of Ruben Amorim\u2019s 3-4-2-1 principles helps explain the gap. Amorim\u2019s system relied on wingbacks and two attacking midfielders rather than traditional wingers. Matheus Cunha was signed for one of those No. 10 roles last summer and has filled in out wide with some success under Carrick, yet Luke Shaw\u2019s recent absence at left back exposed the lack of width which comes with the inclusion of the roaming Brazilian.<\/p>\n
Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho are both still technically Manchester United players, yet appear to have little chance of ever lining up on that left wing slot at Old Trafford again. New blood is necessary. Sir Jim Ratcliffe claims that Manchester United\u2019s analytics department is still operating in the 20th century, so why not give them a helping hand? The below will be sent across to Old Trafford on a floppy disk.<\/p>\n
Yan Diomande is the market name after excelling at RB Leipzig. The 19-year-old has only been playing senior soccer for less than a year. Diomande may have already hit double digits for RB Leipzig this term (on top of seven assists) but whether that warrants the \u20ac100 million (\u00a387.1 million, $116.2 million) price tag the German outfit are demanding is hotly debatable.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne day,\u201d Cesc F\u00e0bregas said of Jes\u00fas Rodr\u00edguez earlier this season, \u201che\u2019ll be worth \u20ac80 million.\u201d Jes\u00fas Rodr\u00edguez, the 20-year-old Como forward, is a pure dribbler with seven assists in his debut Serie A season and the creativity to unsettle low blocks.<\/p>\n
Martial Godo\u2019s Premier League career stands at just 21 snatched minutes across a pair of uneventful cameos for Fulham last season. The London-born forward moved to Strasbourg over the summer and, while not a guaranteed starter under Liam Rosenior in the first half of the campaign, has established himself as a regular for Gary O\u2019Neil on the German border, scoring 12 goals across all competitions. Perhaps he is due another chance in England.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Carrick hints at left-sided signing as United weigh youthful wide options from Europe and France….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,1163],"tags":[1162,1506,1507],"class_list":["post-7466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-transfers","tag-analytics","tag-jesus-rodriguez","tag-martial-godo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7466","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=7466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}