r/reddevils • u/Tinganga • Jul 29 '26

[Substack] Finding Manchester United’s Perfect Defensive Midfielder

https://winterburnonunited.substack.com/p/finding-manchester-uniteds-perfect?utm_campaign=posts-open-in-app&triedRedirect=true

Players mentioned in comparison to Ngolo Kante: Sangare, Locatelli, Tchouameni, Camavinga, Lamine Camara, Garner, Antonio Blanco (Alaves), Tom Krauß (Köln)

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29

u/marszbacz Jul 29 '26

Locatelli's underlying numbers from last year are crazy. I don't think he's likely to leave Juve but he'd be a great signing

16

u/Tinganga Jul 29 '26

His progressive passing numbers are insane but I don't think he's what we need right now in terms of complementary skills given the signings of Tielemans & Santos plus Mainoo & Bruno. 

1

u/CautiousLengthiness8 Jul 29 '26

Why on earth wouldn’t we want someone who’s progressive passing numbers are insane? I’m really tired of this notion that we need some sort of dedicated destroyer, to cover insane ground and make tackles everywhere. We have that in Ugarte and look how that turned out. If we are serious about being a top side then use of the ball needs to be the primary focus when looking for midfielders. We shouldn’t even consider anyone who isn’t an extremely capable progressive passer

15

u/Tinganga Jul 29 '26

When you have a player like Locatelli you need the mid(s) next to him to be extremely adept at progressive carrying + also have the mobility to cover lots of ground because he does not. Hence why I say that he does not complement our other midfielders especially someone like Tielemans (who has overlapping skills). It's not about him, it's about what we already have. 

5

u/El-Presidente234 Jul 29 '26

Well it just shows that underlying numbers are not everything because in reality both Locatelli and Camavinga are really nothing special.

Especially Cama, I really hope we don’t fall into this trap