How Manchester United can line up next season with £150 million in signings
Manchester United are once again at the centre of a lot of transfer speculation this summer and we've worked out all the different ways they could line up next season.
Erik ten Hag undoubtedly improved United in his first campaign at Old Trafford, leading them to Carabao Cup success, a third place finish and the FA Cup final.
Now the manager has to plan how to spend his transfer budget in order to make sure they are competing for honours again and closing the gap on Manchester City.
It all comes amidst the club being in the middle of the longest takeover process in the history of football, with the Glazer family still yet to name a preferred bidder.
Advert
The only thing that is certain at United is just how much transfer speculation they'll be about the club anytime the transfer window is open.
According to reports on Monday they're looking to offload up to £260 million in sales to help boost the current kitty for incoming signings.
Last week the club decided that they would drop their interest in Mason Mount whilst Chelsea want too much money, and make Moises Caicedo their number one target.
Based off transfer values from CIES Observatory and Transfermarkt we realised that they could spend £150 million to sign Caicedo, Randal Kolo Muani and Andre Onana and potentially fix their three biggest issues.
It includes the players who did well for Ten Hag last season with Diogo Dalot, Raphael Varane, Luke Shaw and the soon to be returning from injury Lisandro Martinez keeping their places in defence.
Casemiro will have more legs next to him in midfield with Caicedo and the three behind the striker can stay the same, with Kolo Muani surely offering more goals than Wout Weghorst and Anthony Martial.
The thing is though, no one is linked to more players in a window that United so we've also found six other ways they could line up.
Maybe Ten Hag will only strengthen in goal and sign Porto's Diogo Costa to allow his side to play out from the back better, like rivals Manchester City.
Whilst the team are doing that the remaining 10 players could shuffle around and play in the same way as Pep Guardiola's Treble winners, with Lisandro Martinez becoming John Stones.
Maybe the Dutch manager will fancy a different system altogether and move to a 5-3-2 and include Federico Dimarco on the left, after his brilliant performances helped Inter Milan get to the Champions League final.
Despite ruling out a move for Mount previously, you can well imagine United going back in for him and upfront this time is Rasmus Hojlund.
Hojlund is one of a number of strikers linked with a move to United, with goals lacking from most of the players who played at number nine last season.
Luke Shaw has previously played at centre back in a three so it wouldn't be difficult to see him switch there as part of a back three.
Mount and Fernandes working in tandem with Casemiro in behind as their safety blanket would allow both to get forward more.
But what could the Red Devils look like if instead of Hojlund they go all the way back to Harry Kane?
On this occasion United have signed six players in the summer, with Jordan Pickford joining England teammates Mount and Kane at the club.
Of course Kane would be their number one choice to play upfront but it does seem like Daniel Levy isn't going to play ball despite the striker only having one year left on his deal.
In this example Ten Hag has done away with both his central midfielders, beaten both City and Arsenal to Declan Rice and signed Nicolo Barella.
Amad Diallo comes back from his loan at Sunderland and Alejandro Garnacho is given the reigns on left wing to torment yet more defenders.
Look I won't lie, this came to me in a nightmare but Scott McTominay is scoring for fun in Euro 2024 qualifiers and he literally can't score fewer goals than Weghorst managed in the league.
Rice is joined by Rabiot in midfield this time after failed attempts to sign the Frenchman last summer and Matej Kovar goes in net after impressing on loan at Sparta Prague last season.
In our sixth line up United go mad for forwards and end up splashing the cash on Victor Osimhen, Neymar and Goncalo Ramos.
To even it out they bring in Benjamin Pavard for defensive balance whilst Fred and David de Gea have to start as the club can no longer afford replacements.
You may have noticed there's been no sign of Harry Maguire in any of the teams and that's very much been done on purpose.
As a United fan I refuse to believe that the England player isn't going to be sold at some point this summer, or at least it's wishful thinking.
The crazy thing about all these line ups is United have been 'linked' with every single one of these players by one outlet or another.
And it doesn't stop there, with an entire XI based off transfer rumours that haven't yet been mentioned in the rest of the article.
Oh sure it's an extreme tactic but who doesn't want to see Ten Hag do away with every player he relied on last season and invest in 11 new ones?
Most of them have been more strongly rumoured to be going to other clubs but that doesn't stop each report mentioning United being interested.
Ollie Watkins is apparently on a five man shortlist to be signed upfront and there's probably plenty of other players around who could have been added to any of these teams.
Topics: Football, Moises Caicedo, Premier League, Man Utd
Ryan Sidle