Last summer and during the first half of this season, Tottenham Hotspur’s Danny Rose was strongly linked with a move to Manchester United, but nothing materialised in January.
The England international has spent much of the 2017-18 campaign on the sidelines, whilst Luke Shaw has put in a number of excellent performances in the left-back position after returning from a lengthy lay-off from injury himself in December. Ashley Young has started the most games in this position for us this season.
It appears we have moved away from Rose and now Goal are reporting that another Tottenham player is on Jose Mourinho’s radar – central midfielder Victor Wanyama.
The Kenyan missed just two Premier League games for Mauricio Pochettino’s side last season as they produced their highest-ever finish in the competition – runners-up.
However, Wanyama has made just two starts in the top flight so far this season and a further eight from the bench as Mousa Dembele has emerged as one of the best central midfielders in the Premier League, and that Pochettino also seems to have a liking for Moussa Sissoko.
With Michael Carrick retiring in the summer and Marouane Fellaini expected to leave, Jose would be left with just four central midfielders on his books – Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Ander Herrera and Scott McTominay. This would certainly make the Portuguese coach invest over the summer, especially considering we’ve mostly been using a 4-3-3 formation since acquiring Alexis Sanchez in January.
With Wanyama reduced to a backup role at Tottenham, he could certainly be tempted with a move to Old Trafford. And Goal are citing reports from the Daily Mail that the 28-year-old is valued at £40 million – not bad at all in today’s market, especially when dealing with Daniel Levy.
However, the report also says we could face competition from Premier League rivals Liverpool for his services. Jurgen Klopp’s side are in need of a holding midfielder and defensive players in general, so there’s no doubt he could be a first team regular at Anfield also.
Like Nemanja Matic, Victor Wanyama is a powerful holding midfielder but offers more pace than the Serbian. He’s been a rock in the heart of Southampton and Spurs’ midfields when he’s played and he’s the type of holding midfielder who could really make an impact at Manchester United, should we make a move for him.
