Manchester United’s need for a centre-forward and central midfielder is widely known but the Reds may also be well-served looking for back-up at centre-half.
There was a notable drop-off when either Raphael Varane or Lisandro Martinez were not available for action with left-back Luke Shaw at times coming in to help out, doing so well surprisingly competently.
However, several players face a crossroads this summer with United to contemplate Harry Maguire’s future while Victor Lindelof assesses his options. Erik ten Hag has been linked with a number of potential arrivals.
Kim Min-jae is the centre-back who has been linked most following his brilliant season guiding Napoli to the Serie A title. Meanwhile, Jurrien Timber was a focus for United last summer but before attention turned to Ajax teammate Martinez.
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Timber watched on as the Argentine flourished at Old Trafford and the Dutchman has been very vocal about a potential exit in recent months.
But the Ajax defender has fuelled speculation he could leave the Dutch club this summer with his latest comments, telling Vandaag Inside: "Will I stay with Ajax anyway? I’m not sure, I can’t say that. I'm not in talks with Ajax now. My agent had a good talk a few times, but it's not like we're talking about anything right now."
However, it’s not thought Ten Hag has the same interest in Timber this time around, and perhaps the stats from this season give a further insight into the gap between the two.
In actuality, there is not much to split the pair. The one obvious point to make is that Min-jae has lifted a title within the top five leagues within Europe whereas Timber’s Ajax faltered this time around.
Timber does have a handful of Eredivisie titles in his back pocket though. This season, their pass success rate and number of tackles won are almost identical.
Timber has played on game fewer than Min-jae but has a slightly better success rate of 91.6 per cent against his counterparts’ 90.8 per cent. Min-jae won one more tackle than Timber overall (55 vs 54).
Continuing the pattern of splitting hairs, Min-jae has a narrowly greater number of touches per 90 minutes at 92.7 versus Timber’s 90.5. There are three stats that indicate why Min-jae may be a better fit at United, though.
Min-jae made 13 more blocks (36) than Timber this season while committing six fewer fouls (30). In terms of aerial duels, Min-jae is miles ahead with 91 battles won compared with Timber’s 45.
The Premier League demands that defenders be physical and bold while also being cute enough not to persistently commit offences. Martinez is a prime example of that.
Timber and Min-jae have shown to have produced very similar outputs this season but it is the fine margins that can make and break success. Knowing Ten Hag’s meticulous attention to detail, these small differences will matter.
