As each week passes at Manchester United, it feels like the imbalances with the squad become more prevalent than ever before, and supporters believe a summer rebuild could be on the cards.
The situation is strange, considering that this team had title challenge aspirations at the start of the season. That's looking like a terrible misjudgement from United supporters as the squad look very dysfunctional in many ways.
United started the season off with a big squad, but that has since been trimmed down, and there's now an argument to suggest that the team lack significant depth. The tide has indeed turned for the worse.
As we slowly approach the final part of the season, the team problems don't stop there for United. Jesse Lingard, Paul Pogba and Edinson Cavani all have contracts that run out at the end of the season, and the expectation is that all of them will be leaving the club.
On top of that, a new central defensive midfielder is needed. The uncertain futures of Anthony Martial and Donny van de Beek depend on how successful they are in their loan spells with Sevilla and Everton.
What this means is potentially a massive overhaul at Old Trafford. In January, the MEN reported that United could make up to four additional signings, who those players could be remains a mystery.
A midfielder and forward will likely join United in the summer as those are the two areas that will need addressing. Supporters have also reiterated that these are the two positions the club need to strengthen. However, as fans have only focussed on these roles, it's meant that other important matters with the team have gone unnoticed, and there's one other issue that needs to be looked at.
This is in the right-back area.
Under Rangnick's guidance, we've seen the tale of two right-backs' Diogo Dalot and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
In the case of Dalot, he's come on leaps and bounds, showing to the fanbase he can be the attacking full-back fans have been desperately craving for so long. However, his game still has flaws as he isn't as strong defensively, which is perhaps a consequence of his offensive qualities.
But it's the Wan-Bissaka issue that has caused a hidden transfer problem at Old Trafford. Signed for £50m in the summer of 2019 under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, he was, at the time, the apparent right-back signing to make. He just came off a brilliant individual campaign for Crystal Palace, and everyone thought he was going to develop into an elite-level player. However, that hasn't happened.
While everyone can see where Wan-Bissaka is brilliant, he doesn't exemplify a modern-day full-back. He is, without doubt, the best defensive right-back on his day, but football has moved on. Outside defenders have to be a threat going forward, and that's where his weaknesses lie.
When you consider that United need to be catching up to Manchester City and Liverpool, who possess the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joao Cancelo, there's a lot for him to do. In 2019/20, he registered just four Premier League assists in 46 matches. This slightly improved to six assists, but he's declined again this season and has no assists to his name.
When you also factor in that Rangnick and the subsequent permanent United manager (on the basis it's Mauricio Pochettino or Erik ten Hag) like attacking full-backs, you have to fear for Wan-Bissaka's future.
It also means United may need to strengthen and bring in a more attack-minded right-back to progress the team. There are certainly players out there, be it ones who'll cost money (Tariq Lamptey) or others who won't (Noussair Mazraoui).
We'll eventually see what happens, but it's hard to argue against this being a summer transfer problem unless Wan-Bissaka drastically improves his attacking abilities.
Could Wan-Bissaka create a summer transfer problem for United? Follow our United On My Mind writer Omar Garrick on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below.
