Manchester United will face Crystal Palace in the 7th round of the 2023-24 Premier League (PL) season held at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, at 11 p.m. on the 30th (Korean time). Currently, Manchester United is in 9th place with 9 points.
Before the game, Manchester United was in a gloomy mood. This is because the long-term absence of key defender Lisandro Martinez was announced. On the 29th, Manchester United announced on its official website, “Lisandra will be unable to play for a long time as the foot injury he suffered last April has worsened.”
Manchester United then revealed that Lisandro had endured the injury and continued his march. “Lisandra felt pain during the 2023-24 season Premier League (PL) 4th round match against Arsenal earlier this month, but played against Brighton in the 5th round and the UEFA Champions League (UCL) match against Bayern Munich. However, for now, he is recovering and “It has been decided that he needs to focus on rest for rehabilitation. Everyone at Manchester United hopes that Lisandro can return as soon as possible,” the statement said.
Lisandro is a disciple raised by coach Erik ten Haag. In the 2019-20 season, Martinez wore the Ajax uniform under coach Ten Haag. He immediately emerged as a key player. Coach Ten Haag developed Martinez by using him in various positions.토토사이트
Martinez played well in the roles requested by coach Ten Haag, moving between central and defensive midfielder positions. Lisandro, who also began being used as a central defender, performed so well that he was selected as Ajax’s Player of the Year in the 2021-22 season.
After taking charge of Manchester United, coach Ten Haag requested the club to recruit Lisandro. Ajax stubbornly refused to sell their key player, Lisandro, but Manchester United eventually invested 57 million euros (about 81.4 billion won) to sign Lisandro.
In fact, when coach Ten Haag decided to bring in Lisandro for the center back position, everyone criticized him for being crazy. This is because it was difficult to expect a short center back of 175 cm to succeed in the PL, which has the most physical competition in the world. He thought Lisandro would have trouble controlling the ball in the air against physical monsters.
However, as coach Ten Haag’s football began to take root at Manchester United, Lisandro began to show performances at the highest level in the league. With his excellent chemistry with Raphael Varane, he has emerged as the core of Manchester United. Lisandro defied everyone’s expectations and successfully established himself at Manchester United, giving the team the gift of winning the Football League Cup.
Even after Lisandro’s successful debut, Manchester United was assessed as needing to recruit a centre-back. This is because Varane has rarely played a full season consistently due to frequent injuries. Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire are waiting on the bench, but many analysts say that both players need better players for Manchester United to regain its former glory.
Accordingly, the player that Manchester United wanted to recruit was Kim Min-jae. Reporter Fabricio Romano, an expert on the European transfer market, said since last May, “Napoli tried to renew Kim Min-jae’s contract, but were unable to reach an agreement with the player. Manchester United are really interested in Kim Min-jae. They have been saying it since November. But Manchester United is also now out of buyout. “The clause cannot be invoked. Manchester United is talking directly with the player. Manchester United considers Kim Min-jae as their top target, but negotiations are not over yet,” the report said.
However, Manchester United again prioritized reinforcing Kim Min-jae in other positions. While Mason Mount, Andre Onana and Rasmus Hoilun were brought in, the reinforcement of centre-backs was pushed back. Fans’ concerns grew.
This is because if Maguire is sold and Kim Min-jae is brought in in his place, there will be no major worries even if Varanna Lisandro is out due to injury. However, Manchester United failed to sell Maguire and were unable to bring in Kim Min-jae. Minjae Kim moved to Bayern Munich and is continuing his crazy performance.
Maguire, whom Manchester United could not dispose of, is still struggling. He was once a captain, and he receives a considerable weekly salary from the team, but the assessment is that he is not getting his money’s worth. It was last summer’s transfer market when Manchester United’s poor negotiating power was once again called into question.
In the end, the concerns became reality. Varane has been suffering from injuries since the start of the season. Lindelof took over as the starting pitcher and worked well with Lisandro, but Manchester United conceded a significant increase in goals this season compared to last season. They are showing a low-level defense by conceding 10 goals in 6 games.
As the defense problem was serious, the worst situation was created where Lisandro endured the injury and played the game, but eventually the injury recurred and he was sidelined for a long period of time. Varan can play again, but if Varan collapses again, Manchester United will have to use Lindelof and Maguire or Lindelof and Jonny Evans as a center back combination.
It is fortunate that the center back problem is only serious. The current left defender was also wiped out. Key defender Luke Shaw is confirmed to be out for a long period of time. The same goes for backup Taryl Malasia. Accordingly, Sergio Reguilon was hurriedly brought in from Tottenham on loan at the end of the transfer window, but even Reguilon collapsed due to injury. Right defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka is also suffering from injury.
First of all, it was revealed that Manchester United are planning to urgently recruit a new centre-back. Reporter Fabricio Romano, an expert on the European transfer market, said on his personal SNS on the 30th, “Manchester United has begun internal discussions to consider investing in recruiting a new central defender in 2024. Jean-Clair Todibo, Edmond Tapsoba, and Antonio Silva have been recruited. “It is on the list. More players may be added to the recruitment list,” the report said.
Coach Ten Haag would not have thought of a situation where there were suddenly such a large number of injuries, but if there had been a player like Kim Min-jae, he wouldn’t have been as worried about the team as he is now. Todibo, Tapsoba, and Silva are all players who are rated lower than Kim Min-jae based on their current skills.