Yes, it seems that this is the case at Old Trafford when it comes to right-back.
News has been circulating that United are looking to replace Aaron Wan-Bissaka for Noussair Mazraoui of Bayern Munich.
No, this isn't a straight swap but MUFC are looking to move AWB on as he's had interest from the likes of West Ham who are also in the market for Mazraoui so if we want the Bayern right-back, we may have to move fast to bring him to Manchester as apparently, the Moroccan right-back wants to come to the Premier League.
United seem to be a little desperate to sell Wan-Bissaka as they've dropped the asking price for him to £10m which is much too low for my liking. While I am not the biggest AWB fan, £10m is waaaaayyyyyy below what he is worth which indicates how eager United are to shift him on.
Florian Plttenberg said that moving Wan-Bissaka on is "key for a possible deal with Noussair Mazraoui".
This deal is a clear indicator that MUFC have to sell to buy. It appears as though the club don't have enough money to go and buy players outright without the need to sell.
If these players cannot be moved on, we will not be able to bring in new players who are better suited to how the manager wants to play, such as Noussair Mazraoui.
The Bayern defender has the experience at the top level having been at the 6x champions of Europe for the past two seasons. Before that, he was at Ajax where he played under Erik ten Hag for a couple of seasons.
Of course he did 😐.
But this is what I mean about bringing players in who understand what the manager wants and can improve the squad.
Final Thoughts
That asking price for Spider Wan is definitely not enough as he should be at least worth double that. £20m is around a good price for a player of his quality and for one who's contract ends in June next year.
Much like Scott McTominay though, I cannot really understand why people rate Wan-Bissaka that highly. I'm not saying he's utter shit as he does have his good attributes (certainly more than McTominay) as AWB is decent defensively, great at last-ditch tackling and is arguably one of the best defenders at one-v-ones.
But all those suggest a player who is good when the team plays more defensive rather than on the front foot. Most of Wan-Bissaka's best performances have come in games where he's been superb defensively.
This isn't the style that we want to play as Erik ten Hag will be looking to implement a more attacking and exciting brand of football, one that requires players who are good on the ball, comfortable under pressure, and, for a full-back, is quite good going forward.
AWB isn't good at any of those. For Big Sam ball, this is the type of defender you need. As we don't want to be doing that, we need to get rid of him.
I don't understand why people are so affectionate towards him and players similar to him like McTominay, Maguire and Lindelof. These are top guys, I've no doubt, but when it comes to footballing ability, not good enough.
It's about time we start removing these types of players to make way for better ones who will improve the squad.
On Mazraoui, I wouldn't mind him at the club as I feel he is better suited to ten Hag ball - even more so because he played it. He is better going forward, is relatively experienced at 26, and can play left-back which is another area where we need to improve.
I think moving AWB on and bringing in a Mazraoui is good business for all parties 🤝.
How would you feel if this were to occur?
Background Image: Aaron Wan-Bissaka | Creator: Michael Regan | Credit: Getty Images Copyright: 2023 Getty Images via Man Utd News