Manchester United will now look to the summer transfer window to improve their squad and put the club back into a position to compete for trophies next season.
What’s the latest?
According to Portuguese news outlet Correio da Manha (via Sport Witness), Porto are ‘keeping an eye’ on defender Alex Telles.
As per the report, the Manchester United player has his ‘days counted’ ahead of Erik ten Hag’s arrival at Old Trafford and with the new manager putting together a long list of players to offload, Telles could be on his way out.
Ten Hag must axe Telles
When it comes to defending this season, Manchester United have been under a lot of criticism for their poor performances that have ultimately reflected in the outcome of their season.
In the Premier League, the Red Devils have conceded the eighth most goals out of 20 teams, which will need to drastically improve if Ten Hag wants to challenge in the league next season, which means he will need to be ruthless when it comes to making changes to the defensive line.
This season, Telles has been outstanding going forward but his defending deficiencies have cost Man United dearly on occasions, with two penalties committed, handing their top-four competitors, at the time, Arsenal a penalty last month to double their lead with a late challenge on Bukayo Saka in the box.
The £78k-per-week flop who was dubbed “awful” by journalist Casey Evans, lost the ball every 4.9 minutes in his 20 appearances in the Premier League this season and was dribbled past 0.8 times on average per game, proving that although he can be effective going forward his inability to look after the ball when he has it can cause problems in defensive play.
Should Man United sell Alex Telles?
Yes
No
With that being said, Ten Hag will need to find a replacement for the player if he does get moved on this summer as Luke Shaw has been suffering from injury problems and there are no current plans to extend his contract ending in June 2023 as of yet.
Thus, there will be a big question mark of his future and whether Man United can identify a worthy replacement.
AND in other news: Man United are now the “frontrunners” to sign £35m “great leader”, ten Hag needs him
