When Erik ten Hag arrived at Manchester United he immediately identified central midfield as his priority for the summer transfer window.
That is hardly surprising, considering the exodus which is about to occur. At the end of June, United will lose Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata on free transfers when their contracts expire. Their departures, plus the poor form of others in that position over the miserable 2021/22 season, means new additions are a must in midfield.
Ten Hag has made Frenkie de Jong his priority target, but has been frustrated by Barcelona’s stance over selling the Dutchman. Barca want upwards of £70million for De Jong, while United are understood to be willing to pay an initial fee of around £60m, with a further £5m due in add-ons. That impasse is holding up other potential deals , meaning that with days to go until United begin their pre-season preparations, they are yet to bring in any new players for their manager.
United have offered a contract to Christian Eriksen, who is weighing up whether to stay with Brentford, move back to Tottenham or join Ten Hag at Old Trafford. The 30-year-old midfielder is soon to be out of contract and can take his pick of the three clubs to join a free transfer.
United have been linked with a few other midfielders – Leeds’ Kalvin Phillips and Wolves ’ Ruben Neves among them – but are holding out for De Jong for now. That is a frustrating position for Ten Hag, who wants to bring in five players in the transfer window before the 2022/23 season.
The 52-year-old former Ajax manager is not the first United boss to struggle with central midfield. In fact, since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in May 2013, there have been a succession of them. It all started, infamously, with David Moyes’ move to sign Marouane Fellaini from his former club Everton in September 2013.
Moyes was gone within 10 months of succeeding Ferguson and – rightly or wrongly – Fellaini became viewed as a lightning rod for the post-Ferguson era of transfer criticism. But the big Belgian was not the only questionable deal completed by United in recent years.
Looking through a full list of midfielders signed in the past nine years there aren’t too many undeniable success stories. Mata is leaving at the end of the month after eight years at Old Trafford in which he has won over everyone with his personality, but a record of 51 goals and 47 assists in 285 appearances is slightly disappointing, considering the form he showed for Chelsea prior to his arrival.
Ander Herrera, who joined for £29m from Athletic Bilbao in June 2014 was a tenacious and effective ball-winner for United right up until his departure for Paris Saint-Germain in 2019, but he fell short of establishing himself as a club stalwart. But the Spaniard fared much better than Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger, who both arrived in July 2015 and flopped.
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The summer of 2016 was similarly disappointing, and much more wasteful, with Pogba’s £89m move from Juventus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s £30m transfer from Arsenal both not providing value for money. Jose Mourinho brought his favourite midfielder, Nemanja Matic, to the club for £40m from Chelsea in July 2017 and the Serbian has largely delivered what was expected of him, although his decline has been notable in recent years.
If Matic had really hit the heights then perhaps United wouldn’t have shelled out £52m to sign Fred from Shakhtar Donetsk a year later. The Brazilian has done well to turn around his image at the club and is now a solid performer, if not a player worth £52m.
Of the modern era of signings at United one stands out head and shoulder above the rest. There can be no doubt that Bruno Fernandes has delivered since joining from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020 – something that can’t yet be said to Donny van de Beek, who is the most recent midfield arrival after United neglected the area last summer.
Full list of midfielders signed by Manchester United since 2013
Donny van de Beek £40m – Ajax, September 2020
Bruno Fernandes £67.7m – Sporting Lisbon, January 2020
Fred £52m – Shakhtar Donetsk, June 2018
Nemanja Matic £40m – Chelsea, July 2017
Paul Pogba £89m – Juventus, August 2016
Henrikh Mkhitaryan £30m – Arsenal, July 2016
Morgan Schneiderlin £31.5m – Southampton, July 2015
Bastian Schweinsteiger £6.5m – Bayern Munich, July 2015
Ander Herrera £29m – Athletic Bilbao, June 2014
Juan Mata £37.1m – Chelsea, January 2014
Marouane Fellaini £27.5m – Everton, September 2013
