James Garner has proven he's ready to be given a chance at Manchester United

Wouldn't it be ironic if the midfield answer Manchester United were looking for was right in front of them all this time?

For years now it's been clear that United have been lacking in the middle of the park. For all the good moments and performances Scott McTominay and Fred have had individually, they've never consistently made a dominating partnership, but the other options haven't been any better (or so it was thought).

Nemanja Matic still has something to offer but is slow and can't play well more than once a week. Donny van de Beek hasn't been able to settle and was jettisoned out on loan in January and Paul Pogba has always lacked the defensive discipline to play a holding role.

So, instead, United have had to largely persevere with the 'McFred' tandem. While both do bring a lot of energy and can have moments of real quality - which is happening on a much more frequent basis in Fred's case - they lack the midfield attributes that a club of United's ambitions needs.

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Their range and standard of passing aren't the best, they are unable to control games by dictating its tempo, they are not the most assured in possession, are often dragged out of position and also aren't that solid defensively, either. They are both all-action midfielders that can do a lot of the hard graft in the middle of the pitch, which is a fine service to provide and is definitely needed from time to time, but they just aren't at the level to compete with the best in Manchester, let alone the Premier League. Let alone Europe.

Thankfully, after years of overlooking the problem in favour of lavishly spending on superfluous forwards, the club appears to have