26 May 2022 18:45:02
Any United interest in Alessandro Bastoni from Inter? City rumoured interest but 2 years back and obviously they have reinforced since.

Left footed CB, 23. £54m value per Transfermarkt. co. uk

Bailly and Jones look on their way out. Question marks over the remaining CBs and I'd include Varane in that due to his injury record (albeit from a one season sample) .

We look heavily linked with Torres and Timber though the latter could be as RB?

1.) 26 May 2022
26 May 2022 21:06:50
Something I've wondered about over the last couple of days is whether we will see a shift in formation from EtH.

He has almost exclusively set up Ajax in a 4231, which has lead many to automatically assume he'll do the same at United.

However, his system sees one of the double pivot drop deep between the two CB's and the other push forward alongside the No.10.

Meaning when his side have the ball they often look more like a 343.

Recently we have been linked with Timber, Pau Torres and De Jong as the main targets (according to the press at least) .

With no obvious or clear CDM target despite the fact we actually don't have one at the club.

So could we see a 343 type set up? With Torres and Timber playing in the wider CB roles with one of Varane, Lindelof or even Maguire playing in the middle (this three at the back system does suit Maguire) .

Then have De Jong in the middle linking everything together, with any of Donny, Bruno, Fred or McTominay alongside him.

That sort of system/ line up suits the players we have been linked with, along with how EtH looks to play.

2.) 26 May 2022
26 May 2022 21:57:04
Unlikely. EtH may shift to 3-4-3 when in attack but central to his system is interchangeability, with at least one moving between lines. 3 at the back suggests a more rigid formation I think. Further forward he's definitely more adaptable with the main interchanger between defence and attack generally being his number 10 (eg van de Beek)

3.) 27 May 2022
27 May 2022 10:28:49
Yes sign a manager whos played with a back 4 for the majority of his managerial career and change to a back 3 system.

Meanwhile probably the best manager in the world at coaching a back 3 system was overlooked and is now at tottenham.

Would be such a man united of the past decade thing to do lol.

4.) 27 May 2022
27 May 2022 11:29:45
I'm not saying he will play a back three system, just that the signings we have been linked to in the press would better suit a back three system.

I find the lack of a clear CDM target interesting.

Tchouameni is going to Real Madrid, Kamara has gone to Villa. Rice won't be moving this summer. With Leeds staying up Kalvin Philips seems a long shot.

While the players we have been linked with (De Jong, Laimer, Manu Kone, Haidara, Neves etc) are more suited to playing as a No.8 box to box type role than as a sitting holding midfielder.

While if we look at how EtH has played at Ajax he has always played with a CDM who sits deep and drops between the CB's. Yet we don't have any player in our squad who suits that role.

We also don't seem to be being linked with any in the media. So either we aren't looking at signing someone who plays this role, in which case will we play a different way. Or we the media have no clue who we are looking at in this position.

5.) 27 May 2022
27 May 2022 13:51:36
Its the 27th May, window ends at the end of August.

Ten Hag has been in the job officially a week, I'm sure he's still making his final evaluations of which areas are the priority to strengthen in the summer.

To be frank if Ten Hag assesses this squad and does not think a CDM is the number 1 or 2 priority position to upgrade this summer then i would seriously question his judgment.

6.) 27 May 2022
27 May 2022 17:15:33
I am still unsure of the formation and style EtH will play here.

I know how his team played at Ajax but that's a club who had a style and philosophy ingrained into the club and schooling the kids from the academy in it.

I am excited to find out exactly what he intends to do here and how he will have us playing.

7.) 27 May 2022
27 May 2022 18:14:39
For all of the names we keep plucking out of the press Erik will have dozens of other targets. I hope we avoid the usual suspects personally. For all the hype around Timber and Anthony, maybe Ajax's own defensive midfielder Edson Alvarez could be an option. Young and plays at CB too. I like the idea of players who can interchange during a game. OK, we're not quite at the level of the total football of the great Dutch teams, but it's a good start.