Manchester United midfield rebuild might start with an unlikely transfer

It's fair to say Manchester United's attempts to reshape their midfield in the summer of 2023 missed the mark.

Having landed Casemiro in what looked like a marquee deal in 2022, United needed to do more. Yet at almost every turn, their decision-making has been proven seriously questionable.

Mason Mount is a fine footballer and could still come good at Old Trafford, but £60million was excessive for a player United didn't necessarily need. Mount has endured an injury-plagued campaign but his best position is usually occupied by Bruno Fernandes in any case.

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United also offloaded Fred for just £12.9million (including add-ons) and opted not to extend Marcel Sabitzer's loan from Bayern Munich. Sofyan Amrabat was brought in for an £8.6million loan fee and that was the end of United's midfield business: two out, two in, with plenty resting on the shoulders of then-untested academy product Kobbie Mainoo.

Had United sold Scott McTominay to West Ham as well – which was on the cards for a good while – they might have made another midfield move. As it was, their midfield was left threadbare from the get-go, with Mainoo injured in pre-season and Mount soon sidelined too.

That Ten Hag has picked Amrabat so seldom this season, even amid all the injury issues, speaks volumes about the midfielder's struggle to adapt to the Premier League. Yet this is a player who starred at the 2022 World Cup with Morocco, whose passing statistics shone like a beacon in Serie A and who Ten Hag had worked with in the past, at FC Utrecht.

United surely knew what they were getting from Amrabat, but he's