Paul Merson believes Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has made a mistake by not signing Conor Coady this summer.
The experienced defender has joined Everton from Wolves on a season-long loan with an option to buy, after Coady was dropped for their opening day trip to Leeds United last weekend. The 29-year-old then made his debut for the Toffees at Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon, but was unable to stop his side from losing 2-1.
However, Merson believes United should have made the move for Coady instead, pointing out Harry Maguire's pace as the main concern. He also added that Coady would shore up the defence, tipping the Red Devils to move to a back-three instead of their four-man defence.
He told Sky Sports: "No one wants to go to United right now. Their main enemies are Liverpool and they are much better than them. They have got the team next door who are the best team about. The embarrassing thing is that they are going for Arnautovic, for players that cost £8million.
"Not being horrible but they should have been going for Conor Coady. They need to play three at the back, Maguire cannot run, so they need to play with a five. Maguire is a very good player on the ball, but when he plays in a four he cannot get tighter.
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"If he gets left one-v-one he is going to struggle. Put Coady in there and he is an out and out sweeper in the middle of a three, you put Maguire on one side and Varane on the other, then you start from there. When you get Coady in the team, you don't have to play McTominay and Fred together."
United have made one centre-back signing in the transfer window so far, with Lisandro Martinez arriving for a fee in the region of £52million from Ajax, while Tyrell Malacia has joined to bolster the left side of defence. The Red Devils were linked with a move for Kalidou Koulibaly before he joined Chelsea, while a number of other defensive assets have been tipped to join the Red Devils.
Coady was a mainstay in the Wolves side before Bruno Lage decided to move to four at the back, with Max Kilman and Nathan Collins starting their opening game of the season. This saw Coady drop on to the bench alongside Wily Boly, prompting the defender to leave.
