Manchester United had a pretty underwhelming start to their time under their new manager Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese will be a concerned man right now as his side is much behind by the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal. The Red Devils have struggled for goals this campaign while Mourinho has publicly criticised some of his defenders. So, we can expect the 20-time English champions to be quite active in the transfer market once it reopens in January.
The Mirror claims that Manchester United are preparing a £26m bid for Swedish defender Victor Lindelof in January. The 22-year-old is currently on the books of Benfica and enjoyed his breakthrough season in the Primeira Liga last time out. Now a regular for the Portuguese champions, Lindelof, has lately attracted enormous interests from a host of European giants and the Red Devils are the latest side to register an interest in him.
Lindelof is a defender with a very high potential and has made a name for himself at both club level and also at the international stage. The 22-year-old made his debut for the Sweden u-21 team in September 2014 but was not selected for the UEFA European U-21 Championships for June 2015 held in the Czech Republic.
An unfortunate back injury to Emil Kraft gave him a wildcard entry to the big stage and he took his chance in the perfect manner. Not only did he feature for his country throughout the whole tournament, he delivered some brilliant performances at the back and converted the final penalty of the shootout to secure a historic win for his side against Portugal in the final.
The 6’2″ man mountain never had to look back after his big break and now he is among the biggest talents in Europe. With Eric Bailly injured until the New Year and Mourinho being unhappy with the likes of Smalling, Jones, Rojo and Blind; we can expect United going for a new centre-back in January and Lindelof would be a brilliant signing for the Red Devils. The 22-year-old is physically a strong player and excels in the air which is evident from his 21 aerial balls won every game.
Nowadays, managers want ball-playing defenders at the back rather than defenders who just clear everything coming their way. Lindelof’s passing ability is brilliant for a defender and he loves to play long balls. His passing accuracy this season has been 86.4% while the Swede has played 3.3 long balls every game. The young defender looks to be a solid defender in the making and could be a long-term prospect at Old Trafford.
Stats courtesy- Whoscored
