Manchester United have a lot of areas to reinforce on the pitch this summer, but one of them that they might not need to, with pressing necessity, is the central defender position. The Red Devils have a number of talented options to play there.
Ruben Amorim has Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, Harry Maguire, Leny Yoro, Lisandro Martinez and Ayden Heaven, who can all play in this position.
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While they did ship a lot of goals last season, one cannot put it on the quality of the central defensive options.
Despite this, as per A Bola, Man Utd have expressed interest in signing Portuguese central defender Goncalo Inacio from Amorim’s former side Sporting CP and a fee of around £43.2m would be sufficient to get the deal done.
A product of Sporting’s academy, Inacio has cemented his place in the first-team since 2020, expressing his versatility under Amorim.
Capable of playing across defence and even in midfield, he is best known for his composure, passing range and anticipation.
While United might have a solid backline on paper, De Ligt, Martinez, Maguire and Yoro have suffered a lot of injuries in recent times and inconsistency could come back to haunt them. A modern, ball-playing defender like Inacio would fit the mould perfectly.
Defensive cornerstone
Although it might not seem the case yet, Amorim has always set his teams up to play a possession-based, aggressive brand of football.
Inacio’s ability to break lines from the deep makes him a valuable asset in both defensive setups and build-up phases.
While the asking price for Inacio is certainly not outlandish, Man Utd need to identify if they want to pay that much money on a position where they are relatively well sorted, especially when there are other areas crying for reinforcements.
If United do pursue a move and try and sign Inacio, they will be securing a cornerstone in central defence for the next decade to come.
Let’s wait and see if the Red Devils do push to sign the 23-year-old this summer.
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