When Manchester United signed Aaron Wan-Bissaka in the summer of 2019 they liked to boast that they had whittled down a database of 804 right-backs before making Crystal Palace’s player of the year their first choice.
It told us United’s computers had sizable memory, but little else about recruitment, given Wan-Bissaka was the player they were linked with throughout that transfer window and always looked the most obvious solution.
Nearly three years on, with Wan-Bissaka having lost his place in the United team to another unconvincing right-back, it would be interesting to know who the other 803 right-backs on that list were, although it feels like most of them have been selected by England since. Eight hundred and fourth is roughly where Wan-Bissaka features on Gareth Southgate’s list of potential right-backs.
