Manchester United are moving in the transfer market after securing Joshua Zirkzee and Leny Yoro but their priorities clearly pivoted.
A defensive midfielder has been put on the back burner due to PSG’s demands for Manuel Ugarte, so a right-back came on the agenda.
With Aaron Wan-Bissaka entering the last year of his contract and failing to convince consistently, United are looking to cut their losses and replace him with a player more suited at Old Trafford.
They have identified Bayern Munich’s Noussair Mazraoui and ESPN pundit Frank Leboeuf given his verdict on the move with some qualifiers.
Noussair Mazraoui>Aaron Wan-Bissaka?
Leboeuf said moving for the Bayern Munich man is a “gamble” but one he likes because a consistent Mazraoui is a really good player, mainly on two counts.
He praised his technical ability and his understanding of the game, especially with regard to making runs off the ball and control on it.
Overall, he deemed the Moroccan international a much better package than Wan-Bissaka, at least offensively, calling a move for him a “good catch”.
He said (via ESPN): I am very interested to see what Mazraoui would be capable of doing because I highly rank him as a player offensively. Defensively we have to see, but for me, he is better than Wan-Bissaka offensively, he can bring something, he’s very good technically, and very clever with the ball and in his run.
“So, he could be a good catch, but they still have to gamble a little bit because we don’t know what’s going to happen. And we all talk about consistency in football. If he is able to be consistent, he would be a very good player.”
The other side of the coin
While not many United fans would disagree with that assessment, there are other sides to his coin as well, just like any other move.
For starters, Mazraoui has been fairly irregular in terms of his availability, especially last season, when he missed 96 days and 19 games due to five different issues.
Worryingly, two of those five issues were related to a torn muscle, an injury notorious for causing repeated issues in that part of the body.
How that translates to an even more physical league in England where the demands are higher game-to-game is a question United and the player will need to answer.
Bayern usually don’t sell a player unless there are some red flags attached and in the case of Mazraoui, his injury history is a big one.
United have already seen what happens when the backup is injury-prone, as they were reduced to fielding Victor Lindelof and Sofyan Amrabat at left-back last season in the absence of Tyrell Malacia.
Wan-Bissaka’s defense-first style is not to everyone’s liking, and Mazraoui can cover both the wings, but that’s only if he’s available.
The move is a no-brainer if he puts his injury worries behind him but that is a huge asterisk on this move, and United’s recent history with injuries shows fans are right to be concerned.
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