Why signing Gary Cahill would be a good move for Manchester United

With Gary Cahill’s future thrown into doubt after the arrival of Maurizio Sarri, the English international has fallen down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge. He is now being linked to Old Trafford where he would reunite with Jose Mourinho. The Manchester United boss is keen to upgrade his defence and sees Cahill as an ideal candidate, according to the Mirror.

Cahill, who has been instrumental to Chelsea’s success for years, has found regular playing time hard to come by this season. As a result, he will assess his options in January with Manchester United emerging as a shock contender for the defender’s signature (h/t Mirror).

Could he be the answer to the Red Devils defensive frailties at the back?

Cahill reads the game expertly and neither dives into tackles nor goes flying into challenges. He backs-off and allows the attacker to have the ball in order to intercept passes and prevent spaces for the attackers to run into.

United have defenders such as Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelof and Phil Jones – all of whom love to play a high line and get touch-tight with attackers. Hence, any ball played over the top would create those spaces, leaving United susceptible and exposed all over the pitch.

The tactics are ultimately all down to Mourinho but the responsibility to execute those tactics falls on the shoulders of the players. Based on United’s performances over the past few weeks, their defence looks disorganized with no real direction. Cahill could quite possibly change that as he has successfully worked with Mourinho before while delivering constantly.

Moreover, with the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Paul Pogba not firing on all cylinders, the defence has been receiving a lot of backlashes. To be fair, the United boss needs to push his attackers to start delivering consistently to alleviate the pressure on the defence.

United are missing a leader on and off the pitch. To that end, Cahill is a stellar example of what a model professional should look like and that’s probably why Chelsea fans rate him so highly. He could certainly instil calmness and add composure to a United backline that seems quite frantic and panic-stricken at the moment.

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The England international still has a few of his best years ahead of him. With that in mind, Cahill could be a welcome addition at Old Trafford and certainly worth taking a punt on.