If you asked 100 Manchester United supporters where the Red Devils weaknesses lie within their playing squad, it is unlikely that many would say central defence.
With four-time Champions League winner Raphael Varane forming quite the partnership alongside big-money summer acquisition Lisandro Martinez, United have looked strong at the back. Their club captain Harry Maguire has come in for criticism but is a more than capable defender, as is Victor Lindelof.
However, three of the aforementioned quarter could be unavailable over the festive period for the Red Devils and ex-United right-back Gary Neville now feels manager Erik ten Hag has a "big problem" in that area. The Qatar World Cup being played in the middle of the league season was always going to cause problems and that seems to be the case for United.
Maguire reached the quarter-final stage with England and has not featured for the club he skippers despite fellow Three Lions stars Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw both playing in Tuesday night's 2-0 Carabao Cup win over Burnley at Old Trafford. Ten Hag admitted he was uncertain when Maguire will return as he contends with an illness.
"Harry, unfortunately, he's ill," the Dutchman told MUTV. "It's an issue because Rapha and Licha were in the World Cup final but we pick Case [Casemiro], he plays more often there and also Luke [Shaw] he reported himself: 'I can play centre-half' which is really good so they are all committed and they want to play."
HAVE YOUR SAY! Could United suffer as a result of their lack of centre-backs? Comment below
As mentioned by Ten Hag, Varane and Martinez both reached the World Cup final as the latter's Argentina toppled the former's France, meaning they may need some extra time to recover before being thrown back into the swing of things when it comes to Premier League action.
It is likely the pair are unavailable until the new year and as Ten Hag explained, defensive midfielder Casemiro will deputise at the heart of the back-line alongside Lindelof in the absence of the other three.
Though they managed to keep a clean sheet on Tuesday against Burnley, Neville was not convinced by United's defensive display and is predicting more problems over the festive period.
"‘They look like they’ve got a big problem at centre back," Neville told Sky Sports.
"Martínez looks like he’s going to be at least a couple of weeks, Varane obviously he was injured and you don’t know when he’s going to come back, and if Harry Maguire ’s ill they’re going to go potentially with a really weakened defence into those Premier League games.
"I think if they had been playing against a Premier League team tonight they would have been punished, so they’ve got to get some players back quickly."
United welcome Nottingham Forest to Old Trafford for their Boxing day clash, before making the trip to the Molineux to take on Wolves for New Year's Day's early kick-off.
