Alex Telles finally got his chance to be a regular start at Manchester United last season due to Luke Shaw's constant struggles with injuries throughout the campaign, however, he failed to impress. Now the Manchester Evening News understands that the club will entertain bids for the player this summer.
Telles is still part of the club's pre-season tour squad however, and rather than play him left-back — given that it appears Shaw and new signing Tyrell Malacia have that role locked down — Erik ten Hag has found a creative place to play him, at left centre-back.
Now initially, United fans thought this was due to injury, but even as Will Fish has been drafted in to prop up the club's centre-back options and Harry Maguire has returned to fitness, Telles has played 45 minutes in this position in both games.
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So could the Brazilian's role have a deeper meaning? And could he carve out a future for himself in this position?
Telles' issue at left-back was he didn't appear to have the positional understanding to defend one-versus-one against a winger, nor in possession did he know how to overlap or position himself to help attacks. But what he did have was a fantastic range of passing when the game was in front of him.
Therefore Ten Hag's decision to play him as a centre-back makes sense. His range of passing suits the sort of game the Dutch manager wants to play; building from the back and beating the oppositions press and lines with a single ball into the midfield,
It doesn't seem like a long-term solution, but it's a stop-gap fix while United wait for Lisandro Martinez to join up with the squad. The Argentinian is a much better defender than Telles and also has the range of passing needed; he will be a fine addition to the squad.
The issue is that Martinez will not be travelling to meet up with the squad in Australia and will only join later in the club's pre-season tour. Therefore Ten Hag needs to find a way to simulate how he wants the rest of the team to play around his defenders without his preferred centre-back and Telles allows him to do that.
You've also seen the same idea being implemented with Fred, who is playing much deeper to simulate the role that Frenkie de Jong may well play when he hopefully moves to Old Trafford from Barcelona. Telles may not have a long-term future at United but he is helping out considerably in the short.
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