According to the Mail on Sunday, Manchester United are planning a summer transfer raid of fellow Premier League teams (for now) Norwich City and West Ham United.
They are reportedly looking to move for Norwich City’s young English duo Todd Cantwell and Max Aarons – two moves which make absolutely zero sense to me but hey ho, that’s Manchester United for you.
Meanwhile, the report also says United are to renew their interest in West Ham central midfielder Declan Rice as they look to shore up their midfield.
Aarons and Cantwell are both cracking young English players but, for me, neither would fit in overly well at Manchester United.
For starters, Aarons is a right-back, one of the few positions in the Manchester United team that doesn’t actually need to be improved upon. They have Aaron Wan-Bissaka, one of the best young defenders in the country.
Cantwell an option for Manchester United?
Meanwhile, Todd Cantwell is a winger, primarily a left-winger – which is where Marcus Rashford normally lines up when he’s fit. If not, then Dan James will play there. Cantwell will offer a decent option in terms of depth to United on the wings, but it’s not exactly what they need.
Although having said that, Cantwell has managed six goals and two assists in 26 Premier League appearances for a Norwich City team who lie rock bottom of the pile in the Premier League. By contrast, James has scored just three goals, but has assisted six in his 24 Premier League appearances this season.
Then we come to Declan Rice, who will likely come in to replace the likes of Nemanja Matic who is surely coming to the end of his time as a top flight footballer, never mind a Manchester United player.
Rice is a great player and offers some versatility with the option to fill in at centre-back. In his natural position of holding midfield, he can break up play very well, distribute the ball well and could very well nab you a goal once a season…
Rice will surely cost United a fair amount of cash, simply down to how important he is to West Ham United. He’s started and played the full 90 minutes in EVERY single Premier League game West Ham have played this season.
Manchester United have already spent over £200m since Ole Gunnar Solksjaer took over as manager at the club and despite that fact, they’ve shown very little improvement. Could these three be the players to change that? I doubt it to be honest.
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All statistics taken from TransferMarkt.