Five players United should have signed this summer.
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5) Thomas Vermaelen (Barcelona)
Strongly linked as a top target for Manchester United for much of the summer after falling out of favour with Arsenal, Thomas Vermaelen eventually made the move to Barcelona instead. Although the Belgian international had suffered something of a dip in form in his last couple of years at the Emirates Stadium, he remains a reliable and experienced performer who could surely have improved Louis van Gaal’s defensive options this season.
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4) Mehdi Benatia (Bayern Munich)
A world class centre-back, there’s no doubt that Mehdi Benatia would have been the ideal signing for Manchester United to solve their crisis in that position. Although the club managed to bring in the likes of Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind in that part of the pitch, there’s no question that Beenatia’s performances with AS Roma last season showed him to be a cut above most defensive players in the world. He will surely prove a big signing for Bayern Munich, and one that got away for United.
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3) Juan Cuadrado (Fiorentina)
The player most ideally suited to playing as a right-sided wing-back in Louis van Gaal’s 3-5-2 system, it is hard to understand why United failed to complete a move for superb Fiorentina winger Juan Cuadrado. The Colombian international was one of the best wide-players in Europe last season and also attracted strong interest from Barcelona this summer, though their interest cooled towards the end of the transfer window as they instead opted to sign Brazilian youngster Douglas in that position. With van Gaal seemingly set on playing his current five-man midfield, Cuadrado looks to be the final cog in the machine missing from this setup.
2) Toni Kroos (Real Madrid)
With United looking for creativity in midfield, they needn’t have looked any further than German playmaker Toni Kroos to come in in the middle of the park. The former Bayern Munich man made the move to Real Madrid for a bargain £20m after a superb couple of seasons for Bayern and Germany, and it is no surprise that despite having the whole summer to find an alternative, there were no other players of that quality going for that kind of price, something they will surely live to regret.
1) Arturo Vidal (Juventus)
A target for United last summer as well, the long-running saga linking Arturo Vidal to Manchester United is yet to resolve itself after this year’s transfer window, with no clear indication given as to why the Red Devils couldn’t complete a move to sign the Chilean international. The 27-year-old is undoubtedly one of the best all-round midfield players in the world at the moment and would have made an excellent addition at Old Trafford, even for £40m+, as rumours suggested Juve were asking for. Still, with the Italian giants also known to have been keen to sign the likes of Nani and Javier Hernandez from United, it is hard to understand why these players could not be included in swap deals to bring the player’s fee down.