Manchester United need to sign a defensive midfielder. They needed to sign a defensive midfielder last summer under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but when they didn't the season started to derail.
Now, with the departure of Nemanja Matic in the summer, United do not have a single player who can naturally be deployed in the number six spot. And if Erik ten Hag is to be a success at the club they need to sign someone in the summer transfer market.
The Manchester Evening News understands that United are pursuing a deal for Kalvin Phillips. If Leeds get relegated, the English midfielder should be available for a cut-price fee of around £25million.
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But in their pursuit of Phillips, have United missed out on a better target? The club are looking for cheaper options that can grow as part of the project under Ten Hag.
Boubacar Kamara has been in excellent form for Marseille this season and will be available on a free transfer this summer when his contract expires. The 22-year-old French midfielder is comfortable in possession and would have been an excellent fit for a United side that need to improve how they build from the back under Ten Hag.
The club were, however, never interested in the midfielder and it now seems likely that Kamara will move to Atletico Madrid in the summer and play as part of Diego Simeone's combative midfield. It seems like a missed opportunity for United that could have solved a big problem. Signing one of Europe's top talents without paying a fee is the sort of deal that United's scouting department must identify in the future.
Both chief scout Jim Lawlor and head of global scouting Marcel Bout have left the club this season and given United's failings in the transfer market over the last decade, it seems the correct decision. Of course, the problem won't be solved instantly as it takes many years to implement an intricate data-driven scouting system, but steps in the right direction are a good start.
And this does not just apply to the scouting of defensive midfielders. Replacing Matic is a priority but United need to make smart decisions across the field if they want to close the gap between themselves and Liverpool and Manchester City. And then, hopefully, Ten Hag will be able to take those players and get the results on the pitch.
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