If any single position has summed up Manchester United’s years of mediocrity it has been in central defence and their inability to recruit the kind of talents required.
Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer both splashed the cash in the area, but endured a who’s who of high-profile transfer misses. During the former’s tenure, United spent heavily on centre-backs, with Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof costing more than £60million combined.
Neither have ever truly lived up to the billing and find themselves out of the side, with the former having been told he is surplus to requirements. Solskjaer was also given massive funds to solve what has increasingly become a problem area. The £80m fee splashed out on Harry Maguire in 2019 was supposed to have a similarly galvanising impact to that of Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool.
