You know you’re having a bad season when you give away three penalties against your arch-rivals. Manchester United’s recent defeat to Liverpool may well be the nadir of a tough season.
David Moyes has taken charge of an aging team, full of tired legs and empty of inspiration. Whilst at Everton the Scot was capable of marshaling his players well and wringing out top quality performances. But now that he’s at Old Trafford he seems to be completely overawed by his surroundings.
Manchester United are doing a nosedive down the Premier League table and it’s tough to see how the club are going to stop the rot.
First things first: Manchester United need to take a look at their centre-backs. With Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand both likely to leave the club in the summer, Moyes will have an alarming lack of options in this department. If he fails to react in a meaningful way, The Red Devils will be in an even worse jam next season.
As The Mirror notes, Manchester United have been linked to FC Porto’s highly regarded French centre-back, Eliaquim Mangala for quite some time.
The 23-year-old, who’s in the middle of his second season for FC Porto after spending three years at Standard Liege, is thought to be one of the most promising young defenders in the world.
He’s quick along the ground and he has an excellent reading of the game. He’s the type of defender who likes to react to attacks before they become particularly dangerous. He’s strong in the tackle and in the air and there’s every reason to believe that he’s due a move to a big club.
Still, with The Mirror suggesting that the Frenchman has a £40m price tag and that there’s plenty of club’s monitoring his situation, Manchester United need to tread carefully here.
He’s a quality option, that’s for sure, but United have a lot of work to do this summer. They’ll need to buy multiple players and as such, they can’t really afford to splurge the majority of their budget on a single player.
Let’s just hope that David Moyes is able to negotiate the price down.
What’s your take? Is Eliaquim Mangala too expensive for Manchester United? Should they consider cheaper options?
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