It’s a little unfortunate that both Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand have chosen to move on from Manchester United at the same time. Yes, they’re both getting on in years, but there’s no doubt that The Red Devils will come to miss their leadership ability, their experience and their defensive nous.
Replacing them won’t be easy. I certainly don’t envy the challenge that lies ahead for Louis Van Gaal at Old Trafford. He’s going to go from managing a supremely talented Dutch international side, to managing a very average Manchester United side (that happens to include Robin Van Persie).
Fixing his defense should be his first priority. That will provide The Red Devils with a platform to build on moving forward.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of top quality centre-backs out there and those who are available seem to be getting snapped up pretty quickly. Van Gaal’s going to have to start proving himself worthy pretty quickly.
Let’s take Mats Hummels, for instance. If you don’t know him well enough from his forays for Borussia Dortmund, I’m sure you’ll have seen his top-drawer performances for Germany during the World Cup.
The German giant is dominant in the air, pretty quick along the ground and very strong in the tackle. He’s got a great attitude and he looks to be destined for big things. Better still, he’s only 25-years-old. Whoever gets their hands on him could prove to be very lucky indeed.
As The Star note, the German international ‘is being lined up for a big-money move to United’. Unfortunately, they also claim that Barcelona are interested, using the following quotes from their director of football, Andoni Zubizarreta as evidence:
“Obviously we’re working on buying players and we’re hoping to announce a centre-back soon. About 90 per cent of clubs in Europe have the same problem, it’s a position everyone is working on.”
United and Barca do share the same problem, but I hope they’re not after the same player. If they are, then I hope that this is a transfer battle that The Red Devils are able to win. Mats Hummels has the quality necessary to steady Manchester United’s defense. As Zubizarreta notes, players like that are very rare indeed.
What’s your take? Could Manchester United take on Barcelona in a battle to sign Mats Hummels?
Please follow @ThePerfectPass for more football related action!
ThisisFutbol.com are seeking new writers to join the team! If you’re passionate about football, drop us a line at “thisisfutbol.com@snack-media.com” to learn more.
Yes i think they can but they stand a better chance
I think barca are big team . They are big problem in defensibe side . matt hummels very much need barca & he can high role barca defence. Also barca matt hummels good priority and much more honure .
i hope matt done good deal barca . I hope barca realize important need defence player
Barcelona we need to get dis guy
Fc barcelona board should all be wiped out and banned from all footballing activity. Cos they know very little or nothing at all how to manage a club. Fcb is declining by the months! Because of mismanagement. Defenders ought to have been our priority last season,but they were pig-headed. And the result as we saw was appalling!
Now this season again,they’re repeating the same thing. If we don’t sign mats hummels,it would be a disgrace and our pain. He can be gotten for £20million!!! For pit sake!!! Real madrid are very intelligient. They will go far cos they know what they’re after and what they want. Obviously the board are confused, unwise and senseless. Not being insolent. No insult intended. Just hard facts.
Plx barca president try and buy mats hummels for us or juan cuadrado
4me barca should sign hummels even if man u have already agreed deal 4 him we can trigger the bid by offering 40 million after all P S G bought David luiz 4 50 million and he is far better than luiz.
At all mix, barca must sign dis guy. It is more preferable dan matheiu cos,he is youngeR dan mathieu
As big as barcelona football club, money should not be the problem here, last season we surfer a lot because of lack of defensive football, if we know what is good for us barcelona should sign mats hummels