Manchester United came into this summer with a lot of work to do to raise the standards of the side.
Last term, the Red Devils picked up 16 fewer points than they did in the 2023/24 season (58 to 42) and finished in fifteenth place, by far their worst campaign in the era of the Premier League.
Goals were an urgent addition: the team only scored 44 times in 38 fixtures, producing the fifth lowest tally in the top tier. The board has backed Ruben Amorim with Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, who cumulatively scored 35 times in the league last season, as well as Benjamin Sesko.
Yet, it is not enough to ensure that **Old Trafford**witnesses a team that can compete with the best.
Why does the midfield require reconstruction?
Sometimes it takes losing everything in your possession to see the worth of what it is in one’s hands.
The last time that the Red Devils finished in second spot was in 2021 when they had a double pivot of **Fred**and Scott McTominay. Both men courted critics in different quarters, but the passage of time has demonstrated that their strengths were more valuable than might have first been acknowledged.
Fred was not the ideal profile to sit at the base of the midfield, but he was an endless ball of energy, agile, and harvested second balls. McTominay shuttles well as a box-to-box midfielder, and at Napoli, he has highlighted how his quick feet in the box and eye for goal create value in the final third.
On top of that, **Casemiro**blessed **Old Trafford**with the final phase of the prime of his career. For other outfits, he might have been a box-to-box midfielder, but he arrived as a Champions League winner from Real Madrid in August 2022 and made his presence felt in front of the back four.
Fred exited the door in the summer of 2023 to go to Galatasaray, and McTominay is silencing the doubters in Italy. Casemiro is in the squad, but **Ruben Amorim**has his doubts about the Brazilian, who still has a feel for the game but is not going to be a force for the team over the long term.
The replacements in the midfield department have reflected the folly of the board over the last decade.
**Sofyan Amrabat**was an ally of Erik ten Hag, having worked for the manager at Utrecht. He earned minutes as a left back at the beginning and was never strong enough to extend his stay past a loan.
What are the options available at the moment
**Manuel Ugarte**signed from **Sporting**with Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2023. He looked like a fish out of water with the technical talent that PSG have in their ranks, and it was a risk to sign him for a fee of up to £51 million, the Parisians’ outlay the year before. With the Red Devils, he has endeared himself to the crowd as a trier, but lacks the ground-eating strength to make up for his flaws.
Kobbie Mainoo made his way through the academy and stood out as a breakout star in the 2023/24 campaign. However, his second season offered a dose of reality. The spaces he had to cover for ten Hag were too great, and while he loves to get on the ball, he is more than the image of a conductor.
Two other options for the double pivot would ideally be earning their minutes in the ten position.
Bruno Fernandes joined the club at the start of 2020 and starred as the number ten in their 4-2-3-1 formation. Seldom out of action, his diesel engine, goals, and desire to take the game to the opposition as a direct, vertical creator have made him the talismanic figure of the team during the last five years.
Amorim has asked his compatriot to sit deeper in the midfield many times. But that role does not always bring the best out of the captain, who would want empowerment in a free role as a 10 again.
One could say the same about Mason Mount, whose main problem has been a lack of playing time.
The Englishman has never got going since he transferred from **Chelsea**in the summer of 2023. He works hard, gets on the half turn, can score goals, and moves very intelligently between the lines. He has also featured in deeper positions in the past, but it is not likely to serve as a sustainable solution.
So, what work can the club do before the closure of the transfer window to address this gaping hole?
There is one emergent talent who stands above the rest as the top target, according to the rumours.
**Brighton**have a habit of unearthing gems who leave their camp for hefty prices. Yves Bissouma, Alexis Mac Allister, and Moises Caicedo have gone for steeper fees over the last few years, and the best player might be to come in the form of their 21-year-old Cameroonian, Carlos Baleba.
He played 400 minutes in **Ligue 1**for **Lille**at the end of the 2022/23 season, but the Seagulls saw enough value in him to shell out £25 million that summer. Now, the transfer is paying dividends.
Baleba used to play as a winger in Cameroon, and at Lille, he spent time playing in a role behind the striker. That experience has helped him to master the management of the ball between both boxes.
He rarely fails to find the right weight and timing of his pass to put teammates in a better position. He has the balance and athletic range to break the lines from the base of the midfield and can alternate box-to-box carries with a brilliant array of passes and bounced touches to distribute from deep.
With such a forward thinking attitude, he is not the most disciplined defensively. But he has shown how he can hold together an open outfit as the deepest presence in the middle of the park for Fabian Hurzeler during the last twelve months and could be paired up with a more stationary pivot player.
Ultimately, United are crying out for legs, youth, and ball progression. Baleba has all three in buckets.