The history of Manchester United FC in the Premier League is filled with some of the best center-backs in the history of football. The list includes Bruce, Pallister, Stam, Vidic, and Ferdinand.
If United midfielder Paul Pogba is to be believed, the latest addition to that list will one day by Harry Maguire. The defender, known as “slab head” to his teammates at previous club Leicester has been nicknamed “Beast” by Pogba for his work in training and his impressive debut against a youthful Chelsea.
Maguire is the kind of defender Manchester United have been lacking in recent seasons and was wanted by the former manager, Jose Mourinho in the 2018 close season but United failed to meet the valuation of Leicester at the time. The impressive nature of Maguire’s assured display against Chelsea was reminiscent of the displays of Steve Bruce for Sir Alex Ferguson with aerial dominance being one of the keys to success.
Despite the quick partnership that seems to have formed between the England international and his fellow defender, Victor Lindelof, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes the pair will only improve with more training together as Maguire has learned quickly how to fit into the Manchester United FC set up.
Manager Solskjaer seems to be reverting to a youthful group in the first team with 17-year-old Mason Greenwood taking a prime role in the first team squad early in the season. Despite the appearance of a club completely focused on rising back up the Premier League, the Red Devils are facing some issues as the European transfer window draws to a close. The biggest issue the club faces seems to be what to do with one of the biggest flops ever to be seen in the Premier League, Alexis Sanchez.
Few players have arrived at a club with as much fanfare as Chilean international Sanchez following a successful spell with arch-rivals, Arsenal. However, the forward seems to have lost all his form and drive to succeed after signing a huge contract that made him one of the highest-paid players in the world.
The pressure on Sanchez appears to be growing as he has reportedly been told to find a club in Europe to move to with Inter Milan apparently expressing an interest. After being told he was surplus to requirements at Manchester United, Sanchez is said to have reacted badly to a challenge from the teenager Greenwood in training and now faces the indignity of being moved to training with the reserve under-23 team if he cannot find a club to move to.
There is little doubt Sanchez has failed to live up to the expectations of the fans at Old Trafford where he is now seen as a sign of the bloated nature of the squad under Louis Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho. The options for Sanchez look limited with his wages putting off most clubs in Europe with his only possible options being a loan move to either Inter or Bayern Munich who would both need United to subsidize his wages for a move to be worked out.
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