Noussair Mazraoui’s terrible injury history makes him a big risk for Manchester United

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Noussair Mazraoui is being linked to Manchester United and it is important to analyse whether this is a shrewd move for the club or a potential mistake.

Erik ten Hag may link up with another one of his old Ajax players. According to The Times, Manchester United are considering a move for Noussair Mazraoui, who is expecting to leave Bayern Munich.

Mazraoui will know how to play for the manager, but an extremely worrisome injury history may make this a bad transfer.

READ MORE: Manchester United seriously considering signing Bayern Munich’s Noussair Mazraoui

Mazraoui a tactical fit

One huge plus to the move is that, like many other recent acquisitions for Manchester United, Mazraoui has previously played for Erik ten Hag. 

During his days playing for Ajax he was an outstanding talent. Mazraoui is an excellent defender who also demonstrates superb attacking skills.

The club have been looking for a “modern” full back to replace Aaron Wan Bissaka who is too limited in terms of his attacking play.

Mazraoui has demonstrated quality performances both domestically in Holland and also on the European stage. 

But since joining Bayern Munich a number of factors have affected the right-back and he has not had the opportunity to shine.

In terms of the footballing side of things Bayern have gone through an unprecedented time of negative football and upheaval with changeovers in managers and general instability. But also a stream of injuries have also capped his output.

How Mazraoui compares

When he has played for Bayern Munich he has shown skills that Erik ten Hag is desperately looking for.

His excellent passing data is coupled with an ability to press high up the pitch and win the ball back.

Looking at his data in comparison to those at Manchester United, but also in comparison to other full backs around Europe, Mazraoui has some incredible statistics.

Aaron Wan Bissaka has some elite defensive data, but Noussair Mazraoui is better on some key statistics, especially the pressing data where he is in the top 5 per cent for tackles made in the attacking third. 

This shows that his ability to defend is at a high level, but he can also play the creative style that ten Hag looks for.

In comparison to Diogo Dalot, Mazraoui’s creative data far eclipses that of his potential Manchester United teammate and also of most defenders in Europe. 

So it is clear that his footballing skills would be an improvement on everyone at the club and he will fit the ten Hag style.

Mazroui has bad injury history 

However, all this outstanding data is only useful if you have high availability too. Last season he played the equivalent of 13.3 (90s), must less than half of the campaign.

Manchester United already struggled with issues of injuries last season and Noussair Mazraoui seems to be high risk.

Since the start of the 2020/2021 season, he has had 16 different injuries, missed 331 days and 73 games in total.

What is most frustrating is that these have not been a few large injuries but rather repeated muscular issues and recurrences of problems that show he has problems that need to be worked on.

Finally, all these issues have come from playing in a much less physical league than the Premier League.

The fatigue built up from the most demanding play style and the most exhausting schedule in Europe will likely see these injuries flair up like in Germany and in Holland. 

Although Mazraoui has incredible attributes the risk he brings of limited availability means that this is a transfer the team should avoid.

The team could potentially spend important money and wages on securing the defender and then have another perennially injured player so the squad will not have been improved.

If he was able to keep fit, he would be an outstanding signing, but there is obviously a reason why Bayern Munich are willing to sell him.