Man Utd ‘leading race’ they’re going to lose to Man City, Liverpool for three midfielders
Manchester United are apparently now ‘leading the race for a No.6’ that they should have entered in the summer transfer window and almost certainly won’t win at the end of this season.
The Red Devils opted to spend their cash this summer on an all-new forward line and a backup goalkeeper, with a late push for Carlos Baleba more of a nudge before a weird reported baulk at a £100m price tag slapped on a midfielder who was always going to be valued at that mark by Brighton.
The United performances this season, featuring an inept Manuel Ugarte and a foolhardy Casemiro over wantaway Kobbie Mainoo in the double pivot with Bruno Fernandes have confirmed a need that seemingly everyone but the Manchester United decision-makers viewed as either priority one, two or three over the summer.
‘Manchester United are ready to lead the way next summer in the race for No 6 midfielders with the key position expected to dominate the transfer market,’ The Telegraph claimed on Wednesday, before revealing later in the report precisely why the Red Devils won’t be leading that race.
The lure of Big Club history may have been enough to persuade Bryan Mbeumo to snub Newcastle for Manchester United, but that will surely prove to be no match against modern-day behemoth Manchester City in the transfer stakes next summer.
It’s claimed ‘Manchester City could look at that position to ease the workload of 2024 Ballon d’Or winner Rodri’ in a possibility we can’t imagine Nico Gonzalez will be too fond of as he works to prove himself as a serviceable backup to his Spanish compatriot.
While reports suggest United will reopen talks with Brighton over Baleba, Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson and Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton are also on the Red Devils’ shortlist, but in an increasingly unimaginative transfer market in which top clubs chase the same players, placing particular value on homegrown talents like Anderson or Wharton, we can also assume they’re on City’s.
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And we wonder whether Liverpool’s likely push for Wharton as a backup for Ryan Gravenberch, having been linked with the Palace midfielder in the summer amid their apparent bid to provide Arne Slot with two brilliant footballers to choose between in every position, may in fact bring about a situation where United have to settle for current top target Baleba.
As Fabian Hurzeler said at the weekend, Baleba is “not a machine” and there is a “responsibility” for Brighton to help him rediscover his form having had his head turned by United to such a degree that he doesn’t look worth the £23.5m the Seagulls paid for him in the summer of 2023, let alone the nine-figure sum they’re now asking for.
A similar trajectory which saw Evan Ferguson fade into anonymity having been linked with a big-money move to United would presumably lead even the hive-minders at Old Trafford to plump for one of the two alternatives, but interest from City and Liverpool in those same players would surely result in United finishing last in a race they’re currently leading.
