48% Tackles Won, 91% Pass Accuracy: Should Manchester United Sign This Former Man City Star And Stick With Carrick & Fellaini?

With Manchester United going for an entire overhaul of their team with the appointment of Louis Van Gaal, Manchester United fans are hopeful that the crux of the team from last season is weeded out. Whether that is entirely a good idea or not is debatable, but that is what the Manchester United fans want.

With Louis Van Gaal looking to overhaul many parts of this team it might not be an unreasonable expectation to think that players like Carrick and Fellaini might join the exit queue soon. Also with news coming in that Manchester United are on the brink of signing Ander Herrera this move makes more sense than ever. Here we look into whether Manchester United should go for a defensive midfielder like Nigel De Jong and also whether they should stick with the likes of Carrick and Fellaini.

If you had a close look at United’s season last year, they badly need a midfield enforcer and Nigel De Jong excels in that particular area. According to Squawka, the AC Milan player has won a total of 55 tackles last season out of an attempted 117 tackles which makes Nigel De Jong a great enforcer in midfield. He has made a sum total of 91 interceptions throughout the course of the season and also his total clearance stands at 62 which makes him that must buy midfield enforcer for Manchester United. At 29, he may not be in his best years, but the midfielder has still got 3 to 4 years left in him. Also his pass completion rate of 91% means that he really is a perfect fit for the Manchester club and given the fact that he plays under Van Gaal in the national set up there is no fear of him taking the time to adopt to the manager’s system.

De Jong was not forced out of Manchester City, but the competition and the wages played a huge role in the move to AC Milan. Currently helping his national side to qualify for the round of 16, De Jong had a strong season in the Serie A and should be brought back to the Premier League, he may not struggle to find his feet.

Now let us turn our attention to Carrick and Fellaini and whether Manchester United should retain them for next season. First, let us deal with Carrick and see what the statistics from Squawka have to say for this one. Having a 88% pass accuracy and having won 55% of average duels Carrick has indeed had a good showing in the midst of the mediocre season that Manchester United had to endure. Also, apart from all the statistics, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Carrick is a quality player and if Louis Van Gaal uses him appropriately, he can reach the heights previously reached by him during the Sir Alex Ferguson era. Carrick alongside the midfield duo of Herrera and De Jong does look like a side fitting under a traditional van Gaal’s team.

Now comes the tough one. Having been injured most of the season and having minimal impact at his time at Manchester United the overwhelming consensus is to let the player go. However, we must remember that he was injured for most part and maybe he was not given the confidence to play in a manner and position where he feels most comfortable at.

With Louis Van Gaal coming in maybe the Manchester United fans would do well to keep a little bit more patience on the Belgian before deciding to completely discard him. Having previously succeeded at Everton playing in a more advanced role, Fellaini reproduced the same for Belgium under Marc Wilmots, showing LVG that he has got what it takes to play under him.

stats via squawka