There’s always a fine balance when it comes to building a team, as Real Madrid have proved on multiple occasions that the Galactico approach doesn’t always work.
You also can’t afford to go too far the other way and become a one-man team, as there will come a time when that talisman is out of form or injured and then you find yourselves in real trouble.
It’s maybe a bit unkind to refer to Man United as a one-man team with Bruno Fernandes just now, but they really do look like they lack direction and leadership when he’s not in the side.
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Former Man United star Paul Ince was speaking exclusively to Ladbrokes about the current situation at Old Trafford, and he detailed the need to have a few heroes in your team if you want to be successful:
“Man United have always had teams that are full of heroes; from Eric Cantona to Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane to Bryan Robson, but you look at the current team and you’d have to say Fernandes is the only one at that level at the moment.
“The fans love Marcus Rashford; he’s a Manchester boy and I love him as well, but when you look at proper hero footballers, Fernandes is the only one at the moment. Man United have always had teams full of heroes but right now it’s just Fernandes.
“They’ve got to get back to that level, where they’ve got the right kind of players, those leaders, across the pitch. It’s a tough ask, though. And it’s not a cheap task at a club like Manchester United, which is the challenge John Murtough is going to face. As soon as United are interested in a player, another £10m is added to his value.”
It’s clear that United need to add to the squad this summer, but it also looks like they probably need to add some proper star power in different areas of the pitch to become competitive when it comes to the biggest trophies again.
Harry Maguire should be that player in the defence but he still looks like more of a liability than a leader, while a proper number 9 who will relish the responsibility of scoring goals and leading from the front will help take them to the next level.
That’s not easy to do and players like that are going to cost a lot of money, but the club need to find a way to add genuine quality to the squad this summer if they want to keep progressing.