Which African All-Stars could be part of the Red Devils’ reconstruction under their incoming Dutch coach?
Getty ImagesTen Hag signs on
Erik ten Hag has finally been confirmed as the new Manchester United manager, ending months of speculation as to who will be the next man in the Old Trafford dugout.
The scale of the rebuilding job on his hands is massive given how far United have fallen behind their rivals and, just on Tuesday, interim manager Ralf Rangnick said the club could need up to 10 new players to get to where they need and want to be.
As Ten Hag plots his transfer targets, GOAL's Joel Omotto looks at six African players who could help his rebuilding job.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesEdmond Tapsoba
Harry Maguire, Raphael Varane, Victor Lindelof, Eric Bailly and Phil Jones cost United a combined fee of nearly £200 million yet the club badly needs a defender.
United’s leaky backline has conceded 48 goals in the Premier League this season, the highest among the top 10, a damning indictment on their recruitment.
They can start getting it right by bringing in Burkina Faso defender Tapsoba, who has been in impressive form for Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen.
Tapsoba is a ball-playing defender who is good in one-versus-one situations while also athletic, features none of the current United centre-backs possess.
Unlike Varane, Bailly and Jones, who cannot keep injuries at bay, Tapsoba has no such troubles as he has already featured in 60 Bundesliga games since joining Leverkusen in 2020, giving United continuity and stability.
ProshotsNoussair Mazraoui
Another area that needs a makeover is right-back, where Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Diogo Dalot have failed to impress over the last three years.
The two offer little going forward and are not defensively sound, making Morocco’s Mazraoui an upgrade for this position if Ten Hag opts to raid his former team.
Going for a former player would make adaptation easy for Mazraoui since he understands the Dutchman’s philosophy.
Mazraoui is good at keeping the ball and has no problem bombing down the wing while providing pin-point crosses, something United have lacked for years.
(C)Getty ImagesYves Bissouma
The Mali central midfielder, who plays for Brighton and Hove Albion, possesses everything that United do not have in the engine room.
The six-foot-tall defensive midfielder is a towering presence who is good at reading the game and adept at progressing the ball through long and short passes which will allow United to play through the lines in Ten Hag’s favoured possession-based 4-3-3 system.
He will not come cheap though since Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are also said to be interested, but United could finally find a replacement for Michael Carrick if they managed to get Bissouma.