Who's gonna replace Maguire if he leaves?

Resch said:
A player like Pavlovic from Salzburg, who has PL all written over him.
21 years old, young enough to be 3rd CB.
Talented enough to fight for the first team in 1 or 2 years.
Good enough to replace a starter for some time.
Cheap enough to be bought for the bench.

Not saying Paclovic is the one, but would be a good example.

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Born leader as well!
For his age, he showed amazing composure and dediaction during WC i Qatar in quite a disjointed Serbian defence. Would be a worthwhile punt allowing him to learn from Varane/Martinez.
His dribbling is not amazing, but I would say reads the game well.
Also is left footed which would be nice, even if Shaw has been great there it would mean an injury to him leaves us short in 2 positions instead of only one.
 
MadDogg said:
Shaw will only be backup left centreback, so will play there when Martinez isn't. We will have somebody else (either a new player or Lindelof) who will be our backup on the right when Varane doesn't play.
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Yeah, that's probably right, I did think of that tbh.

I think both Maguire and lindelof need replacing anyway. With Varane and Martinez, you can really see the step down in class when either of the other 2 come in.
 
The profile should be a young, right-footed CB who doesn't need to be first choice at RCB but is talented enough to potentially become first choice in the future.

Who that is, I have no idea.
 
sullydnl said:
The profile should be a young, right-footed CB who doesn't need to be first choice at RCB but is talented enough to potentially become first choice in the future.

Who that is, I have no idea.
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We have Lindelof who has been playing well whenever he‘s been on the pitch lately.

I would go for a lefty if we can find one.
 
I'd personally go for Jarrad Branthwaite. On loan at PSV from Everton this season and has been playing well. A tall left footed cb than can occupy both cb positions and also good with his feet. Hopefully we're scouting him to be a replacement for Maguire and Lindelöf.
 
Let's get a fast CB. That's something we don't have and will be important if we want to play high line.
Not that I'd put this high on priority list though. Honestly Maguire plays so little we could as well keep McTominay as backup if we want someone who wins headers in last 10min of the game.
 
Evan Ndicka seems like the absolute no brainer.

Only 23, already has 125 Bundesliga appearances, Champions League experience and available for free in the summer.

Sell Maguire for £30m+, bring in Ndicka for free and then invest the profit elsewhere in the squad.
 
Basically Maguire doesn't even play for United, he is just employed at this point...

Replacing him would be a case of finding someone who can play from the bench or cover injuries. You don't need to spend 50+ million on a player capable of doing that!

Currently United/EtH has...

LB Shaw/Malacia
CB Martinez/Shaw
CB Varane/Lindelof
RB Dalot/AWB

I think for a team wanting to challenge on all fronts, any injury to Varane would be a slight concern, the left side of defence is very healthy, so it will be interesting to see how United/EtH approach the summer recruitment for the right hand side of defence.
 
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NLunited said:
We have Lindelof who has been playing well whenever he‘s been on the pitch lately.

I would go for a lefty if we can find one.
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Of our two first choice CBs, Martinez is quite comfortably the one likely to play the most minutes in any given season. As indeed he has already this season.

Which means that of our two current back ups (Lindelof and Shaw), Lindelof will also quite comfortably be the one who plays the most minutes at CB in a given season. And he's a worse footballer than Shaw.

Now maybe people are happy for Lindelof to get all that game time and depend on him every time Varane is unavailable. But assuming you're not, a RCB is the priority rather than a LCB.
 
sullydnl said:
Of our two first choice CBs, Martinez is quite comfortably the one likely to play the most minutes in any given season. As indeed he has already this season.

Which means that of our two current back ups (Lindelof and Shaw), Lindelof will also quite comfortably be the one who plays the most minutes at CB in a given season. And he's a worse footballer than Shaw.

Now maybe people are happy for Lindelof to get all that game time and depend on him every time Varane is available. But assuming you're not, a RCB is the priority rather than a LCB.
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I think Lindelof was great against Leicester, he won a lot of duels, looked scrappy. I‘m happy with him as back up cb.

Shaw is best at lb. He only played lcb because Martinez wasn‘t available or fit.

Ideally a lcb would be best.
 
I was really impressed with Jarrad Branthwaite at Everton, although I’ve not really watched him at PSV. He looks a class young centre half though.
 
footballbite said:
I don't get all the calls for a left-footed CB when Shaw is around. If anything I'd rather sign a more promising LB to cover for Shaw for whenever he has to fill-in at LCB, given how excellent he's been there.
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Shaw has no doubt been fantastic when deputizing for Martinez at centre back. You say sign a left back to cover Shaw, but isn't that what Malacia was signed for? That being said, as tenacious as Malacia has been, we lose a lot on the ball when Luke Shaw doesn't start there.

I guess ten Hag could give Fernandez a chance, giving us the options of:

Left Back - Shaw/Malacia/Fernandez
Left Centre Back- Martinez/Shaw
Right Centre Back -Varane/Lindelof
Right Back- Dalot/Wan Bissaka or new right back
 
Rozay said:
I was really impressed with Jarrad Branthwaite at Everton, although I’ve not really watched him at PSV. He looks a class young centre half though.
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You;d assume he'd up his technical side of the game playing in the Dutch league, too.
 
We may get a cheap signing. Lindelof is Varane's deputy and Shaw is Martinez's .

Don't think we would spend big.
 
ETH seems to like players who can play in multiple positions. Hence I think we’ll be going back in for Timber. He’ll get plenty of minutes at RB and CB.
 
Chief123 said:
ETH seems to like players who can play in multiple positions. Hence I think we’ll be going back in for Timber. He’ll get plenty of minutes at RB and CB.
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He certainly does, and I initially thought Timber would be a great option, but our right back is the more attacking one, whilst the left back is more of the ball playing inverted full back. Due to this, I don't think Timber would be suited to the right back role, and that it would be better keeping Lindelof as back up to Varane, whilst getting a new attacking right back.
 
Timber won't come. For the next 2 seasons, injuries permitting, Martinez and Varane will be first choice. Shaw will able to take Martinez's position and Lindeloff will take Varane's. So we possibly might not be another. We will have Malacia to take over at left back when Shaw is playing at CB.
 
sullydnl said:
The profile should be a young, right-footed CB who doesn't need to be first choice at RCB but is talented enough to potentially become first choice in the future.

Who that is, I have no idea.
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I agree. And that could be Timber. Funny to see the «too short argument»-again. Ten Hag did not hesitate to play Martinez/Timber in Ajax, and I doubt he would in the future either. Could also be an option at RB (if we decide to sell AWB).

Would leave us with 7 players for eight positions. Two left backs where one can cover CB, four CBs where one can cover RB and one RB. I think it would be sufficient.
 
andersj said:
I agree. And that could be Timber. Funny to see the «too short argument»-again. Ten Hag did not hesitate to play Martinez/Timber in Ajax, and I doubt he would in the future either. Could also be an option at RB (if we decide to sell AWB).

Would leave us with 7 players for eight positions. Two left backs where one can cover CB, four CBs where one can cover RB and one RB. I think it would be sufficient.
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Hope not :lol:
 
On another note, when Maguire leaves, will Rashford be the new vice-Captain (Bruno as Captain)?
 
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Nathan Collins and Max Kilman might be worth second looks as back ups who might develop well over 2-3 years while Varane ages out.
 
What a strange sort of thread.

Who is worried about how we replace a bench player?! I'm not even convinced he's above Lindelof in Erik's pecking order at the moment.
 
If budget is a constraint I'd be happy for a backup pool of Lindelof, Shaw and Casemiro to be honest. If it means we go out there and get ourselves a world class midfielder and forward at the very least.
 
We will be losing a few CBs in the summer as the squad is bloated.

Expect Jones, Bailly, Tuanzebe to all go.

If we let Maguire move then we will need a replacement.

EtH seems to like technical players who can play different positions. I don’t think it’s an area we will, or should, spend big on.

No idea who we look at.
 
I think we could lose Maguire without needing to replace him. Martinez and Shaw are our two best LCB's now and Varane and Lindelof the best RCB's.
 
I do think there has been the odd game where Ten Hag has valued the physicality that Maguire could bring to the side e.g. that 2nd Leeds game I think it was. I don't think we'll go for Timber for that reason even though Ten Hag clearly rates him. Yes of course we could let McT or Casemiro fill in there if Varane were out but I think it would be better if another physical centre half could be brought in instead. McT might not even be here next year himself if he wants more first team football, who knows? Ndicka is certainly physical but I have a feeling it will be a right footed player since Varane is a bit more frail than Martinez and both Shaw and Lindelof are capable of deputising at left centre back. On the other hand if a quality young talent becomes available for the right price I doubt we'd worry about which foot he preferred, we'd just go and get him.
 
Take your pick, these have about the same agility/turning circle so any one would be a good, cost effective, like for like replacement:

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I feel like a stuck record to keep mentioning this, but we have to be aware of the home grown rule. 8 of a named squad of 25 need to be this. Any time a position is mentioned everybody in here starts throwing out random names of young players from Europe who they’ve seen play once or twice.

Maguire is one of the HG players, if he’s leaving we could probably do with his replacement satisfying one of those spots. Back up CB is a position we can afford to be a little weaker in than maybe first choice striker.

We need to be having a good look at relegated clubs if we don’t want to blow a load of money on a backup.
 
1. Antonio Silva from Benfica would be the absolute dream but as we know Benfica will want an arm and two legs for him. Benfica are well run and are probably planning to hold on to him for another year is my gut feel, so to buy him this year would need an astronomical bid, probs €80-100m.

2. Second choice would be Kim Min Jae who seems a very good option given his viable €50m release clause. If we can sell him the project and he’s not scared or fazed about sharing duties with Varane and Martinez. Surely he has some attraction to us given he will have grown up watch Park Ji-Sung with us.

3. A close third would be Timber, who I think we would see play more in the right back position tucking in like (like how Zinchenko does for Arsenal) but provide the necessary cover at RCB too. Would also love to see Carragher and Sourness have to stomach watching Utd smash teams with Timber and Martinez together in the prem, how sweet that would be. I can also see Timber having the ability to potentially fill in at DM, he just has so much to his game which as we know ETH appreciates. At a complete guess, I think we’d be looking at €50-60m this summer.
 
Witchking said:
Timber won't come. For the next 2 seasons, injuries permitting, Martinez and Varane will be first choice. Shaw will able to take Martinez's position and Lindeloff will take Varane's. So we possibly might not be another. We will have Malacia to take over at left back when Shaw is playing at CB.
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Timber can also play RB and does regularly do it would make sense to bring him in and strengthen two positions.
 
Scholsey2004 said:
I think we could lose Maguire without needing to replace him. Martinez and Shaw are our two best LCB's now and Varane and Lindelof the best RCB's.
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Of course we'll need to replace him.
A top club like United needs 2 players for every position.
 
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