If reports are to be believed, Manchester United are pursuing yet another midfielder this summer following the buy of Nemanja Matic from Chelsea, and Napoli’s young Piotr Zielinski seems to have caught their attention. The Poland international has been quite impressive for the Serie A side catching the eye of many European giants.
The Red Devils have undoubtedly done some brilliant business this summer getting in the likes of Romelu Lukaku from Everton and Matic from their bitter rivals and title challengers. All the speculation that surrounded the club’s transfer business this summer could never have guessed these arrivals.
While Lindelof remains the uncertain one, Jose Mourinho looks to have finally sorted things out at Old Trafford. Following his arrival from Chelsea last season, the Portuguese didn’t have things going his way. Despite bringing in the likes of Paul Pogba, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he largely had to experiment with them with results coming erratically.
And chance creation was probably their biggest concern amidst all of that. With Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick not sitting fit in his kind of three-man midfield, United’s scoring rate got reduced and they finished sixth in the league table. Now with a Premier League veteran like Matic in the mix, United are expected to finally get things going for them.
However, Mourinho has hardly thought about his bench in the transfer season, until now. The midweek Champions league fixtures followed by the weekend clashes in the Premier League would need some quality players as a backup, who would step up as and when needed. And Zielinski seems to be fitting the bill.
The 23-year-old Polish international has been quite a regular for Napoli since his move from Udinese back in 2014. The central midfielder has got 18 starts last season and has come off the bench the same number of times proving to be an integral part of the team’s plans. His dribbling abilities in taking the ball away from congested midfield positions remain one of his key attributes.
Apart from that, the young player also has brilliant vision for his age and has proved his talent through some of the most exquisite through balls in Serie A over the years. Although at 177cm, he isn’t much of a threat from aerial duels and neither does he possess some brilliant finishing abilities, his knack for taking long shots make him a dangerous option to have.
While he will definitely have to fight very hard to get a break ahead of Matic and Ander Herrera, United surely see him as a long-term option.
