When Manchester United announced that Eric Bailly had put pen to paper on a new long-term contract in April last year, it is fair to say that eyebrows were raised.
The centre-back, who joined United from Spanish outfit Villarreal back in June 2016, had played just 15 times in the 2020/21 prior to signing his new deal and had made just 100 appearances in five years. Injuries had hampered his chances of making progress and United's decision to offer him a new deal until the summer of 2024 seemed odd.
Since signing that contract more than a year ago, Bailly has made just 13 appearances in United colours. It makes United's decision to offer him a long-term deal all the more baffling.
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United knew they needed to add a world-class centre-back to their ranks last summer, and did exactly that in August, landing Raphael Varane from Real Madrid. That instantly pushed Bailly even further down the pecking order, leaving Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire and Varane ahead of him.
Bailly, largely because of injury troubles, has not made anywhere near as much progress in his career as he would have hoped for when joining United six years ago. He has made a total of 113 appearances and played just seven times last season, the last appearance of which came in United's final game of 2021. He's not yet kicked a ball in first-team football in 2022.
It is a sorry state of affairs and United ought to be kicking themselves for rewarding a player who has regularly struggled for consistency. He has played just 40 times for the club in the last three seasons combined.
Although United's track record of selling players isn't one to be used as a case study for any budding chief executive or transfer guru, the club should have tried to have cut ties with Bailly last summer, just 12 months before he entered the final year of his last deal. Instead, they made the mistake of handing him a new contract, tying him down until 2024, meaning they are now in a situation with a long list of centre-backs, who are short on suitors, that they need to trim, to help Erik ten Hag's rebuild.
As revealed by the Manchester Evening News , United want to cut their cloth in defence before bringing a new face through the door, with Ajax ace Jurrien Timber lined up as their top target. It makes sense, but the challenge of shifting two or three of their current options is easier said than done, largely because of a lack of interest in the likes of Phil Jones, Axel Tuanzebe and Bailly, who all experienced disappointing 2021/22 campaigns for different reasons. Clubs, with respect, aren't going to be queuing up around the block for them.
It is why the decision to renew Bailly's contract makes even less sense. Admittedly, the club could not have predicted that last season would be such a disaster, leading to a grand reset this summer, but Bailly's United career had not warranted a new long-term deal. He really ought to have been in line for release this summer alongside the likes of Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard and Edinson Cavani.
Instead, they're stuck with him and Jones, both of whom have signalled their intent to leave the club. But a lack of suitors is proving to be United's problem.
It is derailing Ten Hag's plans of strengthening his defence with fresh blood, even if United are proving to be slow on adding to other areas of the squad where deadwood is not such a significant issue. A lack of interest in United's fringe players is inevitable — they simply haven't shown enough in recent seasons — and decision to award a long-term contract to a player who had struggled with injuries throughout his Old Trafford is proving to be their downfall.
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