Who will step up now the Ginger One is gone?
Currently in Manchester United’s first team, we have only 3 natural central midfielders; Anderson, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher. Over the summer we have lost Paul Scholes to retirement. Owen Hargreaves was released due to his long term knee injury and it also looks most probable that Darron Gibson will be sold this summer after being left out of the US tour squad. I concede that Owen Hargreaves only made the 1 appearance however the three players that we shall be without in 2011/12 made a total of 54 appearances last season. That seems to be a very large amount of appearances to replace.
Common sense tells you that is is nigh on impossible for a team like Manchester United, involved in 4 different competitions next season, to go through a whole season with only 3 natural central midfielders and this is why I am hopeful that we will sign at least 1 central midfielder however I will not be too disappointed if we did not.
Even though there are only 3 natural central midfielders in the Manchester United team, there is quite an abundance of players who may be able to make a name for themselves playing in this position.
Firstly, I start with Tom Cleverley. He possesses all of the technical attributes to play as a centre midfielder at Manchester United and possibly to be Paul Scholes’ replacement. He is a wonderful player and possesses a great first touch as well as being a very good passer of the ball.
He has just had a full, successful season out on loan to Wigan Athletic and was a very important player for their first team and their fight to avoid relegation, albeit playing predominantly as an attacking midfielder/wideman. For the coming season he has been promised game time by Sir Alex Ferguson and I can only see this happening as a central midfielder. Tom Cleverley has always preferred to play centrally anyway and I really do think it is in the centre where he will make his mark at Manchester United.
Phil Jones is also a player who can play in the centre of the park, though in a more defensive role. It doesn’t look too likely that Nemanja Vidic or Rio Ferdinand will lose their place as the first choice centre backs next season and with Chris Smalling excelling in the first team last season, it isn’t too far-fetched to think that Phil Jones could possibly cover for the midfield. Some fans have been crying out for us to sign a midfield destroyer (maybe since Roy Keane’s departure) and I think that Phil Jones might one day take up that role regularly.
Ryan Giggs is another who has the ability to play in a central midfield position for Manchester United. He did in fact play there in the Champions League final as well as in some other big games towards the back end of last season. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Park Ji-Sung playing in that position either. His energy is something that could be desired in the middle.
An alternative to signing a top class central midfielder may be to develop our own. Maybe two of Manchester United’s FA Youth Cup winning team may be bedded into the first team next season? French youngster Paul Pogba seems to possess enough physicality as well as ability to play for the first team next season. Ravel Morrison may also be in with a shout having made a substitute appearance in the Carling Cup last term.
Ashley Young is also one I feel may excel in a central position. Last season for Aston Villa he made more appearances centrally than out on the left. Wayne Rooney may also be a player who could be considered to play as a central midfielder. He started playing in an attacking midfield role for Manchester United towards the end of last season, could he play in an even deeper role next season? He certainly seems to possess the passing range of Paul Scholes but it would be a crying shame if he wasn’t used as a striker, especially after hitting the back of the net 34 times in 2009/10 season.
I for one will not be surprised if Sir Alex Ferguson comes out in the next few days and says “I’m happy with my squad” or something similar. We have a lot of players who can step in and fill a ‘void’ if the circumstances warrant it and a lot of players who have the potential to play the position for Manchester United for years to come. Although I would like us to sign someone, should we be concerned if we do not sign anyone to play as a central midfielder this summer? I don’t think so.
Do you agree? Would you like Manchester United to sign a natural central midfielder? If so, who would you like us to sign? Feel free to comment below.
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I think that united already have the best player to replace paul scholes in wayne rooney, would like to see rooney play in centre midfield next season and possibly sign an established centre foward to united such as hulk from porto. I would also like to see anderson given more playing time as i think he still can become a top player.
We simply need two top class midfielders we have no one with the Keane and Scholes class, we are the biggest and best club in the world so let’s sort it!
I would like man utd to sign Adryan of brazil under 17 before anyone else sign him cuz i really think of him as the new kaka…
Can not agree with this article more. Paul Pogba is the answer to our problems.
Did I not ask you to get off the internet? you’re wasting valuable kilobytes with your insipid manure
I’d prefer that we did sign a big name for the midfield but I won’t be overly concerned if we didn’t. I would also like to see Cleverley, Pogba and Morisson get more game time. Wellbeck and Macheda might still need to go back on loan to one of the Premiership new boys. They’re never gonna get enough games in United until they’re good enough.
I do hope that Gibson and Carrick gets sold quick. Gives more room for the youngsters to step up.
We have lots of players for the central attacking position. Ashley Young was playing all the last season, Giggs, Rooney, JS Park, Anderson, Cleverley.
Unlike most, thats not the position I’m interested in, its one more for the tenacious defensive minded midfielder. We’re lacking there now. And POSSIBLY a left winger. Although Fabio, we have.
The thing is we have lots of players who can play lots of positions, such is the talent of our squad.
hope we dont sign sneijder, top class player, however think that 35 mil is too much for a 27 year old, would like to see nasri at united however i think he will be a city player in the next few weeks, united should be looking at other targets such as eden hazard and yann m’vila who would suit united’s policy of devolping youth and would be much cheaper than sneijder/nasri
We should sign samir nasri and bastian schweinsteiger. End of story!!!
Nice article, agree that while I would like to see a world class central midfielder come in, Nasri or someone similar, I personally think that we do have some great youngsters that could get some first team action instead.
What worries me more is the lack of right and left backs and a back-up keeper. With the departure of O’Shea and Wez Brown, we now only have Evra, and the Brazilian Boys who naturally can play down the wings which leaves us seriously short of cover. Whilst De Gea I think will be an excellent Goalkeeper if we sell Kuszczak. we only have Lindegard as a back up, and to be fair he looks terrible. Personally think we should of gone for someone like Given from Shitty, or a similar more experienced keeper that can take over and play a few more games especially if at any point De Gea has a drop in form/confidence.
Personally would be more happy to hear that we had signed someone like Philip Lahm or someone similar who can play down both sides of the defence and a more experienced goalkeeper thana central midfielder.
Think selling great squad players like O’Shea and Brown and possibly Gibson could really weaken the squad – Unless some replacements can be brought in!