For the last six months or so, Manchester United have been strongly linked to Borussia Dortmund star Mats Hummels. Unfortunately, a January deal never materialised. Former England midfielder, Owen Hargreaves was pleased about this.
Owen Hargreaves does seem to be uniquely qualified to comment on Manchester United’s interest in Mats Hummels. After all, Hargreaves was a hard-working defender, who played in both the Bundesliga (for Bayern Munich, where Hummels started his career before moving to Borussia Dortmund) and the Premier League (for Manchester United no less). Luckily, Hummels’ career hasn’t been plagued by injury like Owen Hargreaves’ was.
That’s enough build-up. Let’s take a look at what he had to say: ‘He’s a super, super ball-playing centre back but I don’t think he can defend, he’s too slow. I think he’s a nice football player, he’s easy on the eye, but United need somebody physical, a presence.
‘He’s Franz Beckenbauer, the new version, a super passer but I think that if I’m Manchester United I want [Nemanja] Vidic, I want [Vincent] Kompany. He’s the captain of Borussia Dortmund, they’re last in the Bundesliga. Is that the measuring stick for Manchester United? I’m not so sure.’ (Source: The Metro)
These comments strike me as extraordinarily harsh, or at least poorly judged. Has Hargreaves been watching German football lately?
The English defensive-midfielder has managed to both over-play Hummels’ ball-playing ability and under-sell his defensive nous. This is a man who won the World Cup with Germany. He’s got 38 caps for the German international side. He’s been in a Champions League final. He’s played 240 times for Borussia Dortmund and is respected enough to have earned his role as club captain.
To suggest he can’t defend is wrong-headed. Sure, he’s not the paciest individual, but he positions himself well, wins everything in the air and makes plenty of interceptions. Besides, neither Vidic nor Ferdinand were pace demons, but they made do.
This brings me to my main point: I’d love to see Mats Hummels in a Manchester United shirt. He’s exactly the caliber of player that Louis Van Gaal needs to pull his defense back into line. Let’s just hope that nobody’s paying attention to Owen Hargreaves.
What’s your take? Would Mats Hummels be a good fit for Manchester United?
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