Manchester United are still in the market for a third midfielder, and they must stage a hijack for a player who is an upgrade on Casemiro in a key area.
The midfield signings so far at Man Utd are more functional than flashy, as Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans have arrived at Old Trafford.
Santos has already impressed, while Tielemans’ pedigree is not in any doubt, but United need some legs and defensive work in that midfield.
The player who recovers the ball twice as much as Casemiro is the perfect candidate, only if they can stage a hijack.
Mamadou Sangare playing against Toulouse FC
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Man Utd must hijack Mamadou Sangare’s Brentford transfer
Mamadou Sangare has been linked to United all season after an impressive campaign for RC Lens saw them qualify for Europe this year.
Those performances haven’t gone unnoticed, as L’Equipe report that Brentford are in advanced talks to sign Sangare for €48m.
The deal has a lot of green flags around it. Firstly, Brentford buying a player is a pretty clear case of the player passing the data test.
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Secondly, the mooted €48m fee for Sangare makes him look like a generational bargain seeing the prices of Premier League midfielders.
Most importantly, Sangare’s playing style is tailor-made for the kind of midfielder United are missing after signing Tielemans and Santos.
Both the newly-signed United players are more comfortable creating magic with the ball rather than doing the dirty work off it.
Sangare, in contrast, is a serial ball-winner who cleans up opposition attacks by eating up the ground.
Last season, his 8.26 recoveries/90 put him in the 99th percentile of defensive midfielders in the top-five leagues.
For context, Casemiro was in the 36th percentile, recovering the ball only 5.21 times/90.
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Sangare is as close as you can get to Elliot Anderson’s off-the-ball abilities, and United need just that, since they’ve improved on Anderson’s on-ball abilities by signing Tielemans and Santos.
Brentford being the rival in a bidding war also suits United because they don’t have the same pulling power, nor can they compete financially.
By negotiating a deal, Brentford have set an acceptable price, ensuring that the “Utd tax” doesn’t happen this time.
United must simply go in and bid slightly higher than Brentford to get first priority on negotiations. Telling the player that United are a better option than Brentford shouldn’t take much effort.
Sangare is the missing piece, and now United know how much it would take to sign him. What they need to do next is a no-brainer.
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