Getting players out of Manchester United this summer will be just as important as bringing new faces in.
After a season of progress in manager Erik ten Hag's first campaign at the club, the Dutchman has grand ambitions to take United to the next level in their resurrection next term. They achieved a top-four finish this season, resulting in Champions League football for next season being secured, and ended their six-year wait for a trophy, winning the Carabao Cup back in February.
Though both of those achievements were steps in the right direction, Ten Hag will not allow United to rest on their laurels. He knows a lot more work still needs to be done behind the scenes and on the pitch to take them to greater heights.
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United have ambitions to strengthen their squad this summer, with recruiting both a central midfielder and a world-class striker having been identified as their leading missions. United lacked a focal point at the top end of the pitch this term and desperately need to bring in a No.9 that they can rely on to deliver the goods on a regular basis.
But even though getting new faces through the door will be the most exciting element of the summer, certainly for the fans, Ten Hag knows United need to act both sensibly and strategically when offloading members of the squad who are no longer required. As reported by the Manchester Evening News back in April, Ten Hag wants the club to be ruthless when it comes to overseeing a clearout.
The Reds have a poor track record when it comes to selling players at the right time and that is something that they cannot afford to get wrong again this summer. Several members of the squad have no future at Old Trafford, certainly not as regular starters, and it would be in the best interests of everyone to cut ties, both for the sake of the club and the individuals in question.
And one of the biggest areas within the team where a difficult decision needs to be made is at centre-back. Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez have established themselves as Ten Hag's first choice options in the heart of the defence, meaning captain Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof have not played anywhere near as much as they would have liked over the course of the season, though the latter deputised in place of the injured Martinez during the final few weeks of the campaign.
Lindelof leapfrogged Maguire in the pecking order at the time of Martinez's injury, meaning when all four of them are available the England defender finds himself at the bottom, even below left-back Luke Shaw as a central option As captain, it is an untenable position for him to find himself in, meaning it would be in the best interests of everyone for him to move onto a new chapter this summer.
Furthermore, Lindelof, who resurrected his United career towards the end of the season, is better suited to the way that Ten Hag wants his team to play, in the sense that he is much more comfortable in possession. Ten Hag wants his team to dictate proceedings and carry the ball out from the back, hence why he brought in Martinez, who is a ball-playing centre-back, last summer.
Statistics have now revealed that the Swede boasted the highest pass completion rate of anyone in the Premier League this season, boasting a pass success percentage of 93.1 per cent. In total, 866 of his 930 passes successfully picked out a teammate.
As a caveat, it is important to highlight that Lindelof only made 20 league appearances this season, though the data provided by FBREF states that the defender has hit the threshold to be included within the category. His passing percentage was marginally higher than those of Manchester City trio Manuel Akanji (93%), John Stones (93%) and Ruben Dias (92.7%).
With that in mind, Lindelof, though he could push for an exit this summer amid a lack of game time across the course of the season, would be a much better option to retain than Maguire. The Swede, as the data proves, is excellent in possession and that trait is key for the way Ten Hag wants his team to operate.
Ten Hag, though it is still a work in progress, is gradually turning United into a possession-based team, who dictate proceedings and set the tempo. Despite not being a guaranteed starter every week, Lindelof has useful attributes the Reds may not want to lose.
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