Erik ten Hag can strengthen Manchester United's right-back options for free

When Manchester United made the decision to make a last-ditch attempt to hijack Tyrell Malacia's proposed move to Lyon at the end of June eyebrows were raised and heads were scratched. United were well-stocked at left-back and needed to strengthen in other positions as priorities.

Luke Shaw was at the head of the pecking order, Alex Telles was available in reserve, Brandon Williams had returned from a loan spell at Norwich City and Alvaro Fernandez had been making a name for himself at youth-level. The idea of recruiting a fifth left-back, particularly a virtually unknown one, seemed needless.

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However, just three months on, Malacia is now United's first choice left-back, Shaw is keeping him on his toes, Williams is out of favour, and Telles and Fernandez are out on loan. The landscape of the situation has changed.

By contrast United did not strengthen at right-back, despite being open to doing so. Manager Erik ten Hag had barely had time to familiarise himself with his new surroundings and it was already emerging that Aaron Wan-Bissaka was not going to play a prominent role in his plans.

The former Crystal Palace man has failed to justify his big-money move to Old Trafford since arriving in 2019 and has been restricted to a paltry four minutes worth of football so far this season. With that particular statistic in mind, there is next to no chance of him reviving his United career.

Unlike on the other side of the defence, Wan-Bissaka, ahead of pre-season, was not going to be battling it out with a handful of competitors for a starting berth; Diogo Dalot was his only senior challenger and the Portuguese has established himself