Tag: Manchester United

In 2019, Manchester United made the incredibly boneheaded decision to spend 87 million euros on center back Harry Maguire, with Leicester City laughing all the way at the fact that the Red Devils were willing to splurge the amount of money a top striker costs on a physically limited central defender. While Maguire is far from the worst center back in English football, he has not even been worth a fraction of the fee Man United spent on him, with his blunders proving so costly that the Red Devils were forced to bench him just a couple of years ago. Manchester United have since moved on, rebuilding their defense this past summer by signing Matthijs de Ligt from Bayern Munich and Leny Yoro from Lille for a combined 100 million euros. It's debatable if Manchester United have fully cov...

At this point, the "Will they or won't they?" around Erik ten Hag's future at Manchester United is starting to become a bit nauseating, because it's almost as if Man United's leadership, regardless of who it is, is kicking the can in perpetuity on a manager nobody really seems to believe in. Manchester United spent heavily on incoming transfers in each offseason ten Hag has been Man United manager, and after last seasons's eighth-placed finish, there haven't been any real signs of growth to start the 2024/25 campaign. Most pundits are clamoring for Manchester United to make a change, especially after the Red Devils non-existent midfield structure was ripped to shreds by Tottenham and then Porto in the Europa League, surrendering three goals in both matches. In fact, Manchester Uni...

5. Alex Stepney Alex Stepney was Manchester United's starting goalkeeper from 1966 to 1978 after a brief spell at Chelsea, and he ended up playing over 400 games in the English top flight for the Red Devils. Although Stepney's name doesn't come up as often when discussing the great Manchester United goalkeepers, he won the league, FA Cup, and European Cup with the club, producing an acclaimed save in that European Cup Final at Wembley against Benfica. The save game from short-range to stop a scorcher from Benfica striker Eusebio, who is widely regarded as one of the best players in world football history. In fact, Stepney's save was so remarkable that Eusebio himself applauded the Manchester United goalkeeper. Stepney recalled, "I saw it on telly afterwards and what had happened ...

Despite finishing in just eighth place in the Premier League last season for the club's worst finish of the modern era, Erik ten Hag still managed to keep his job as Manchester United manager under a new ownership group because the Red Devils beat Manchester City in the FA Cup Final to qualify for the Europa League. Ten Hag has rubbed both players and fans the wrong way, often making excuses after poor results or antagonizing club legends like Cristiano Ronaldo. Despite having no accomplishments in a top five league, ten Hag has allowed his ego to run rampant with results failing to improve for the Red Devils. After another humiliation - a 3-0 defeat to Tottenham - the cries for ten Hag's job are back on. After scouring 10 pages of Transfermarkt's best available managers, here are th...

Manchester United knew they needed to overhaul their defense in the summer transfer market after fielding one of the worst back fours in the Premier League last season. In came Leny Yoro and Matthijs de Ligt to pair with Lisandro Martinez, the only holdover from the 2023/24 season talented enough to continue playing a key role in the 2024/25 season under INEOS. Yoro's preseason injury meant that de Ligt would get all the starts next to Martinez, and, so far, the Dutchman has started four of six matches for Manchester United. However, the 50 million euro signing from Bayern Munich has been a mixed bag to this point. Many Manchester United fans cynically asked why Bayern were trying to sell off de Ligt in the first place if he were so good. New manager Vincent Kompany didn't seem to...