Why Manchester United should keep their eyes off Mohammed Salisu

As per Spanish outlet AS (h/t The Express), Manchester United are interested in signing Real Valladolid defender Mohammed Salisu this summer.

Salisu, 21, spent his youth days with African Talent Football Academy before joining Valladolid’s U19 side in October 2017. After a series of impressive performances with the club’s B team, he was promoted to the senior set-up last summer.

The Ghanaian has gone from strength to strength in the past two years and has been a regular member under Sergio this term. And his impressive performances have garnered attention from Manchester United, who had sent scouts to watch him, as per the report.

The Red Devils, meanwhile, have made a brilliant comeback in the latter stages of the season after a string of poor results earlier in the campaign. United’s attack is back to life since the introduction of Bruno Fernandes in January.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men have gone unbeaten in their last 11 games across all competitions, scoring 29 goals and conceding only twice. It is clear that there has been a significant development in their backline. United’s defensive unit struggled earlier in the season but they seem to have regrouped and are performing better.

Summer signing Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof formed a strong partnership prior to the league getting suspended and have helped the team keep 8 clean sheets in the league so far. Eric Bailly, who returned from a long-term lay off due to injury, has also done extremely well in the few games he had featured.

Apart from them, youngster Axel Tuanzebe, Phil Jones and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are also available at the manager’s disposal. With plenty of options available in the heart of the defence, United should not make a mistake by bringing in a centre-back in the summer.

In that regard, they should avoid signing Salisu from Valladolid as it wouldn’t make any sense. Solskjaer has already brought the best out of the two first-choice central defenders and bringing in the Ghanaian would create chaos within the squad, which has plenty of options at the back.

Salisu has just begun his career at the top level and has featured in only 30 games for the La Liga outfit so far. His inexperience would make it difficult for him to settle to the conditions of the Premier League, where the expectations are high.

Though the Ghanaian has been in fine form this season, United would be wasting their resources if they sign him as he would eventually end up on the bench. They have two or three established centre-backs already, who cannot be kept away from the starting XI.

Read more

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• Why Faitout Maouassa can offer Manchester United more options in defence

Verdict

With plenty of options at the back, bringing in the 21-year-old would not be a wise decision by the Old Trafford outfit. Thus, they should avoid making any advances to sign Salisu. Instead, they must focus on bringing in reinforcements to other key areas on the pitch.