Manchester United have talent in central defence. The problem is the reliability.
Lisandro Martinez’s injury in the World Cup Final was a high-profile warning to the club about his ongoing fitness issues. United already have Matthijs de Ligt recovering from back surgery, and don’t want to go into a gruelling upcoming season light on numbers.
United fans are concerned about Martinez’s injury issues, and this has turned attention to whether the club should sign another centre-back.
If we do, the condition is clear – the centre-back must be reliable.
Not a single United centre-back made 20 Premier League starts last season:
- Harry Maguire – 19 starts
- Leny Yoro – 18 starts
- Lisandro Martínez – 13 starts
- Matthijs de Ligt – 13 starts
- Ayden Heaven – 11 starts
If Man Utd sign a new centre-back… Who would be YOUR pick?
Which centre-back do you think would be a good signing for Michael Carrick's squad?
Who were the Premier League’s most reliable centre-backs in 2025/26
Following United’s Premier League proven strategy, we looked around the league to see how many centre-backs made the full 38 starts. There was only one – a player impossible to buy, Virgil van Dijk.
Expanding the search, here is a list of the centre-backs to make between 35 and 38 league starts in 2025/26.
- Virgil van Dijk – 38 starts
- Nikola Milenkovic – 37 starts
- James Tarkowski – 37 starts
- Marcos Senesi – 37 starts
- Jan Paul van Hecke – 36 starts
- Marc Guehi – 35 starts
- Jake O’Brien – 35 starts
- Maxence Lacroix – 35 starts
- Micky van de Ven – 35 starts
There are a handful of names that stand out. One is Marcos Senesi, who has just signed for Tottenham on a free transfer. That was a bargain depth move that United would have been very sensible to pull off.
Spurs have also signed Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton. Where this gets intriguing is that Micky van de Ven also made 35 starts last season, and could get squeezed out by Tottenham’s two new arrivals. This might be something for United to monitor, amid previous claims he could become available.
It is worth adding caution with Van de Ven, however. His 35 starts last season was somewhat exceptional. The previous year he struggled with injuries and made only 12 starts.
Everton’s Jake O’Brien is a name to note, while Palace’s Maxence Lacroix has recently been strongly linked with a move to Chelsea.
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Is Martinez's talent worth putting up with the constant injuries?
Most reliable centre-backs in Europe last season
In the Bundesliga, the most reliable centre-back was Borussia Dortmund’s Nico Schlotterbeck. He started 28 out of 34 games. However, even he could not escape injury misfortune at the World Cup, when he was ruled out after two games.
A couple of interesting names pop up in Serie A, where Pierre Kalulu made 36 starts for Juventus and Oumar Solet 34 for Udinese. Both defenders have been linked with moves to United at various stages over the past 12 months. United sent scouts to watch Kalulu in action earlier this year, it was claimed.
The most intriguing name of all could be one who starred in Ligue 1 last season, Malang Sarr.
Sarr, 27, made a total of 33 starts for Lens and is now a free agent. The former Chelsea centre-back out of contract, and could be an astute pick-up for United as cover.
He is known to Ineos too, making 119 appearances for OGC Nice earlier in his career.
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