Former Manchester United midfielder Luke Chadwick has explained some major headaches Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has ahead of the Europa League final and the summer transfer window.
The Red Devils are preparing to take on Villarreal in the Europa League, which represents their only chance of winning a trophy this season, but they’re not in the most convincing form ahead of that big game.
It also remains to be seen how Man Utd will line up against their La Liga opponents, with Chadwick pointing out that there are some big decisions for Solskjaer to make in key positions.
The former MUFC ace believes one of Paul Pogba, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford is surely going to be left disappointed by missing out on a place in the starting XI, whilst adding that it’s not an easy decision who should get the nod in goal.
MORE: Luke Shaw shows he’s a class act with message to Man United fan following incident at Old Trafford
One easy decision, however, is to surely include the in-form Edinson Cavani from the start, even if he’s spent most of his season as more of a super-sub.
“It’ll be interesting. Watching the game last night, I think Gary Neville mentioned he thought that could be the team the starts against Villarreal,” Chadwick told CaughtOffside.
“I’m not sure that many players did themselves any favours as it wasn’t a great performance. I think Cavani is on top of his game at the moment, he looks so fit and so sharp, and that finish was absolutely sublime.
“I think it looks like Solskjaer is settled on his best midfield partnership of McTominay and Fred, so I think they’ll start. Bruno Fernandes obviously, Cavani at number 9, and I suppose it’s the wide positions where he’s got a real selection headache.
“One of Greenwood, Rashford or Pogba won’t start the game, so obviously someone’s going to be disappointed there. Rashford was a real shining light at the start of the season but isn’t in his best form. It’s going to be a tough call for Ole.
“The goalkeeper is another headache. De Gea was brilliant in the last Europa League game so I wouldn’t be surprised if he started the game. Lindelof and Bailly wasn’t a great combination against Liverpool – probably the worst defensive performance of the season – Tuanzebe came in against Fulham and did okay, so the centre-half decision and the wide players are the big decisions for Ole. I expect, given how the Europa League’s gone, De Gea will start the final.”
Chadwick also thinks it’s going to be a big summer in the transfer market for his old club, with a decision to be made on selling one of David de Gea or Dean Henderson.
“I’m pretty sure either De Gea or Henderson will be the number one next season,” Chadwick said. “I think Ole made up his mind to a certain extent, with Henderson coming in as the younger ‘keeper, with great potential, but he maybe didn’t perform as he might have been expected. He didn’t do brilliantly against Liverpool, a really big game, so it’s making Ole’s life really tough.
“I would imagine one of those goalkeepers will leave in the summer, I’d guess it would be De Gea, but for the final he’ll pick a team to win the game, and if De Gea’s in better form he could start and it could be a great swansong for him to go out on a high and win the Europa League final.”