Manchester United and Erik ten Hag made a massive transfer blunder by ending Sergio Reguilon’s loan early in January.
The €10 million-rated defender joined Man United on loan in September as an emergency signing after Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia were sidelined due to injuries.
Reguilon featured 12 times for the Red Devils in his short four-month stay. He proved to be a decent option for the left-back role.
He was not solid defensively but provided fine support going forward.
United opted to terminate his loan deal in January after Shaw recovered from a hamstring tear and came back into the team in late November.
Malacia was also expected to return in mid-January after two rounds of knee surgery.
However, Ten Hag revealed last week that the 24-year-old is still not fit enough to return to the squad.
Cutting Reguilon’s loan deal seems to be a hasty call
The Dutchman was forced to substitute Shaw due to a precautionary measure at half-time in United’s 2-1 win over Aston Villa.
Victor Lindelof replaced the England international and produced an underwhelming performance.
Diogo Dalot is the only other senior full-back available to the United manager, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka also nursing an injury.
Ten Hag could have deployed Dalot as the left-back if the former Crystal Palace man was fit.
In hindsight, terminating Reguilon’s loan seems to be a poor decision by the Red Devils.
The main reason behind the move was to trim the wage bill.
After getting eliminated from the Champions League and the League Cup, United thought they had the space to curtail their squad size.
Dalot has performed well at right back. If Reguilon were still a United player, Ten Hag would have an easy solution to current injury issues.
United and Ten Hag will hope their mistake does not come and haunt them in the last few months of this season.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com
