The policy of targeting players with a point to prove is fine provided the club has the right people to guide them
With Manchester United on the hunt for a centre-back who could do for them what Virgil van Dijk has done for Liverpool, it is no wonder they are sniffing around Leicester City. After all, if Van Dijk’s solidity is encapsulated in that oft-repeated statistic about no player managing to dribble past him last season, then it makes sense for United to pursue the defender who was just below the Dutchman in that ranking, the next best. Taking due care to eliminate daft outliers by restricting analysis to central defenders who played at least 1,500 minutes in last season’s Premier League, Ole Gunnar Solskjær is no doubt aware that at the heart of Leicester’s rearguard there was a colossus who was beaten once by a dribble in the entire campaign. So the only question is: are United willing to go as high as £90m for Wes Morgan?
Ah, statistics! They are to judgment what Twitter is to conversation. The things to note here about Morgan – before we get on to Harry Maguire, on whom United really are hot – is that, at the age of 35, he is not as agile as he was, so last season he could not always get himself into positions where opponents needed to dribble past him; nonetheless, he remains savvy and very big, so when forwards did try to get around him they found it tough. Maguire (beaten six times in dribbles last season, if you must know, the same number as Chris Smalling) is also very big and has a slew of other valuable assets. But how savvy is he? And, even more importantly given United’s apparent transfer strategy, how savvy is Solskjær?
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