Man Utd should face striker transfer ban until they sign a midfielder | OneFootball

It’s the last and dullest international break of the year, with January around the corner, so the sudden uptick in players being linked with Manchester United is absolutely and unavoidably inevitable.

Conveniently for the gossip-mongers (yes, we know), Benjamin Sesko sustained an injury against Tottenham at the weekend.

The instinctive reaction to any such blow is to look to the market for a replacement. Endrick, perhaps?

That, of course, ignores the obvious solution to a problem that does not yet exist.

Ruben Amorim has a number of options within his squad to replace Sesko as the frontman. Either Matheus Cunha or Bryan Mbeumo could play up instead of off, while Joshua Zirkzee still exists, even if he could be away in January.

Even if none of that were true, United should be banned from signing anyone who identifies as anything other than a midfielder until they have filled the gaping hole in Amorim’s squad.

The manager, now a year in post, is finally seeing some shoots of positivity after a chastening 12 months which many did not expect him to last.

But that good work could yet be undermined with one tackle or tweak, or anything that leaves Amorim without Casemiro.

For numerous reasons, it is astonishing how important to United that Casemiro has become once more. Barely a soul outside of the Brazilian’s family thought he wasn’t finished, and even some of his relatives probably agreed that ‘the football had left him’.

Now, though, Casemiro has regained the influence he enjoyed on United through his first season in 2022/23. It is not just that United are currently a better team with the 33-year-old, it is how much worse they become without him.

This was hoped to be Manuel Ugarte’s breakout season having had a year to settle following his move from PSG, but Amorim’s admonishment at the end of his first campaign does not seem to have registered.

To play in the base of midfield, that only leaves Kobbie Mainoo, who Amorim really does not fancy for the role. It feels wrong to write – given Mainoo’s obvious class – that there is no place for the academy graduate in Amorim’s box midfield. Perhaps there is a glimmer of hope from reports that Amorim is also spending time on drilling United in 4-3-3, but given the manager’s fanaticism for three at the back, Mainoo seems destined only ever to be a bit-part player under Amorim. In which case, for his sake, he needs to get away.

Bruno Fernandes is doing a stellar job in a role that doesn’t suit his best attributes either but, quite simply, if you manage Manchester United, you find a way to play Fernandes.

Beyond Casemiro and Fernandes, Amorim is out of options. Certainly of the quality necessary to take United back into Europe, which is what will define the season, and the manager, as a success or failure.

In which case, in the unlikely event he isn’t already, Amorim needs to be badgering his board for the midfielder they knew they needed in the summer but never bought.

With it being such an obvious flaw, there are plenty being linked with the Red Devils with less than 50 days until the window opens.

Elliot Anderson. Adam Wharton. Carlos Baleba. Joao Gomes. Conor Gallagher. Alex Scott. It’s not that any will do. But it almost is.

Of course, United’s scouting department don’t work on that basis, despite previous impressions to the contrary. They will identify the best, most suitable target. Then almost certainly decide he’s too expensive and, therefore, unattainable in January.

And they may be right. It would take obscene offers for Palace to part with Wharton or for Forest to flog Anderson in January. Prices are hardly likely to tumble in the summer, especially if either England international makes a positive impression at the World Cup. But their clubs, you would think, would be far less motivated to sell mid-season.

So a stop-gap may be necessary and United should not be too proud to admit that. Casemiro will be out of contract next summer so by then they would need two midfielders anyway. Even if they are prepared to wait until after this season for their primary midfield target, they still need one to avoid a wholly unaffordable gamble to make it to May.

Until they source that midfielder, given how these huge recruitment departments are seemingly incapable of doing more than one thing at once, United should be thinking of nothing else.