Manchester United should go all out to sign Alessio Romagnoli in January
According to ESPN, AC Milan centre-back Alessio Romagnoli has emerged as the latest addition to Jose Mourinho’s list of probable centre-backs when the transfer window opens in January.
Manchester United were linked with several top-quality centre-backs including Diego Godin, Toby Alderweireld and Jerome Boateng but Mourinho failed to convince the club’s investors due to their ages being on the higher side. (h/t ESPN)
As a result, United did not manage to land any of their defensive targets in the summer, leaving Mourinho quite frustrated. Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly were brought into the club by Jose Mourinho himself but the lacklustre performances of the duo in the ongoing season haven’t pleased the manager. In fact, the Portuguese tactician seems to have lost faith in all his centre-backs.
Consequently, the manager decided to field Scott McTominay as a makeshift centre-back in the game against West Ham despite having a fit and running Eric Bailly on the bench. He followed it up with another surprise against Newcastle United when he substituted Bailly just after 18 minutes into the game.
Granted, Bailly was letting the team down with his lapses in concentration but he once again decided to use McTominay as the scapegoat at the back, despite having Victor Lindelof on the bench.
Ander Herrera faced the same fate against Tottenham Hotspur earlier in the season when he was deployed in place of Phil Jones, who had to be substituted due to an injury. Quite unsurprisingly, both McTominay and Herrera have looked like fishes out of water in a centre-back’s role.
Suffice to say, United need a top-quality centre-back to get their campaign back on track. The Red Devils are currently 7 points behind league leaders Manchester City and United must find a way to plug the holes in their porous backline to mount a serious challenge for the Premier League crown.
And they can certainly do that by signing Alessio Romagnoli. The 23-year-old Italian has earned rave reviews for his solid performances at the back and has established himself as one of the most composed young defenders in the Serie A.
A technically gifted defender, Romagnoli excels with his positional sense, situational awareness and composure at the back. With his wonderful range of passing and ball-distribution abilities, the Italian can play out from the back and excels as a ball-playing centre-back.
While he has the aggressiveness to pressurize the opposition by moving higher up the pitch, he also has high levels of composure to play in a deep defensive line and often holds himself back as the last line of defence. His excellent decision-making, tackling and positioning are comparable to the legendary Italian defender Alessandro Nesta. Furthermore, he is blessed with an appreciable game-reading ability in the air as well as on the ground.
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To sum it up, Romagnoli ticks all the boxes for a complete centre-back and Jose Mourinho should do everything to bring the talented young defender to Old Trafford. He definitely won’t come cheap and United will probably have to break the bank to sign him but they should not hesitate to do so. He might be the perfect man to answer United’s prayers.
