Allardyce: Man Utd sold a player who’s ‘the best’ in his position ‘in the Premier League’

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·5 février 2025

Allardyce: Man Utd sold a player who’s ‘the best’ in his position ‘in the Premier League’

Sam Allardyce is of the belief that, prior to the 2024/2025 campaign getting underway, Manchester United parted ways with the best full-back in England’s top flight.

Indeed, the Red Devils offloaded Aaron Wan-Bissaka to West Ham last August for £15 million, following which he was quickly succeeded by Bayern Munich outcast Noussair Mazraoui.

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After making his debut off the bench against his former club, Crystal Palace, the 27-year-old has started every Premier League game for the Irons during what’s been a fluctuating campaign in East London. Now under the guidance of Graham Potter, who was brought in to steady the ship in early January, the side is hoping to maintain a positive run of form.

Wan-Bissaka will indeed be crucial to that. He’s averaged a rating of 6.93 on Sofascore over the last 12 months, including 14 ratings above the 7.0 mark in his 23 league appearances thus far.

Back in October, he lined up against United for the first time since his exit in a match that ultimately spelt the end of Erik ten Hag’s reign as manager when the Reds fell to a 2-1 defeat. For the duration of the 90 minutes, Wan-Bissaka was not dribbled past once – the only starting full-back to achieve such a feat.

Allardyce pours praise on in-form Wan-Bissaka

Wan-Bissaka is challenged by Mazraoui, who replaced him at Old Trafford. (Photo by Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)

Despite the Eagles graduate being something of a maligned figure throughout his Old Trafford tenure, Allardyce couldn’t speak higher of his attributes – even going as far as to say there’s no one that outperforms him on the right flank.

“Wan-Bissaka is the best full-back defender in the Premier League,” said the ex-West Ham boss on the NoTippyTappyFootball podcast. “He defends better than anyone else in the league whatsoever, and he gets slaughtered for it. His repossession, tackling and winning the ball back rate is far better than any other full-back in this country – but then he still gets, ‘Well, he can’t play, can he?’”