Manchester United needs to find the perfect long-term partner for Kobbie Mainoo and one young talent looking the prime contender.
Kobbie Mainoo‘s emergence as an irreplaceable part of Erik ten Hag‘s squad this season has been incredible to watch.
From being the 18-year-old kid making his full first-team debut against Everton and blowing everyone away with his composure and technical ability, he’s come a long way for Manchester United.
Despite it only being around four months since his breakthrough after a return from injury, already he’s put the club on his shoulders on multiple occasions and looks like a leader despite his age.
But with his partner Casemiro struggling to keep up at the age of 32, a long-term replacement is needed this summer for United to improve.
On Thursday night, one of the top options for this berth played on British soil and passed with flying colours as he absolutely battered Rangers’ midfield.
Joao Neves passes Rangers test with flying colours
Facing Rangers in the Europa League on Thursday night was expected to be a test for Joao Neves due to the Ibrox being a notoriously difficult place to go.
But the 19-year-old Portuguese international passed with flying colours and was the man of the match with an 8.6 match rating from FotMob.
Neves completed three dribbles in the game while managing to avoid being dispossessed at all by the home side. He had 79 touches of the ball and completed 82% of his passes.
Where Neves’ excellence really shines through though is his defensive work as the midfielder won four tackles, made two clearances, two interceptions, nine defensive actions and 10 recoveries, while also winning 14 duels as he dominated in the middle of the park.
The thought of partnering Neves with Mainoo is one which is very exciting and clearly Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos have the same feeling about bringing him to United.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe should break Manchester United’s transfer record on Neves
It isn’t just the fanbase that’s getting excited about this potential decade-defining midfield pairing as Sir Jim and Ineos have also made it a priority according to reports.
Reports on Monday that Sir Jim has set his eyes on a deal in excess of £100m to bring the talented midfielder to Old Trafford, with the fee smashing the club’s current record transfer fee.
If this is the case, the club definitely should look at closing this deal as he would be a phenomenal pick-up.
With Neves and Mainoo in the pivot or potentially a midfield three, the centre of the park would be sorted for the next decade at the very least when the duo would be 29 and 28 respectively.
A statement signing United needs to make.
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