Manchester United are in desperate need of a solid central defensive partnership and will have to sign at least one very good defender to partner Victor Lindelof, who seemed like the best centre-back at the club last year. The Red Devils have been linked with big names like Matthijs de Ligt, Kalidou Koulibaly and Harry Maguire but the Premier League side have not been able to secure the signature of any of those three players yet.
United are now linked with the signing of a young Serbian defender, Nikola Milenkovic, who currently plays for Italian side Fiorentina. The Mirror reports that the 21-year-old could be an alternative for Maguire following Leicester City’s stubbornness in making the deal happen as they have slapped a huge price tag on the England international.
The Red Devils have been long-time admirers of Milenkovic and had even put in a bid of £36 million earlier this year in the January transfer window, which was rejected by Fiorentina, according to Daily Star. Milenkovic moved to the Italian club in 2017 for a fee of €5.1 million from Partizan Belgrade and he has so far made 53 appearances for the club in two seasons, while also playing 14 times for his national team.
Is he what they need now?
Milenkovic is a promising young player who is tall, physical and has great anticipatory skills, which would make him a very good defender in the future. The 6’5″ defender is very good in the air, winning an average of 3.2 aerial balls in the Serie A last year while competing for 5.1 aerial balls per game. He also averaged 4 clearances a game in the Serie A last year for Fiorentina while averaging 1.4 interceptions in the season.
He is a good reader of the game from the back and makes vital interceptions and uses his physicality cleverly. The young Serbian is certainly a talented player who can flourish in the years to come, but he isn’t what Manchester United need right now. The Red Devils need an experienced player who can be a leader at the back, as well as one who has Premier League experience.
Over the last decade or so, Manchester United have invested in young centre-backs – the likes of Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Eric Bailly and even Victor Lindelof, joining the club with loads of potential. But this transfer strategy hasn’t quite worked out as none of them have transformed into a world-class operator who can lead United to trophies. United need a central defender who is in his mid-20s who has been consistently good over a few seasons.
Solskjaer and co. must take a leaf out of the book of Liverpool, who paid a big sum for the signing of Virgil van Dijk, which has worked wonders. United need to splash the cash and buy one of Koulibaly or Maguire, and not yet another player with potential – they need the finished product… and they need it now.