In Europe's five major leagues, after nearly half a season of play, the shortcomings in the squads of each team have gradually begun to appear. As the winter transfer window approaches, teams are mulling to strengthen their weak spots in the squad to become more competitive in the second half of the season. Especially for those big teams, the transfer market during the winter break is almost a "must-fight" for them. Because there are not many good enough players in the winter transfer market, they must speed up the pace and collect their favorite players as soon as possible. If there is no good enough efficiency in the transfer market, not only can your lineup not be strengthened, but you will be taken advantage of by competitors to open up the gap.
Among the big teams in Europe's five major leagues, Manchester United has been in a special situation this season. At the beginning of the season, due to the team's continuous completion of a number of very important reinforcements, the team's paper strength has been greatly strengthened, which makes Manchester United very optimistic. The outside world even thinks they have the hope of winning the title that is not inferior to That of Manchester City and Liverpool. However, after about halfway through the season, United's performance fell far short of expectations. They didn't finish in the top four in the league and the point gap between the top teams had reached 14 points, which made them almost early out of the title race. In the Champions League, although United won the first place in the group, they met Atletico Madrid in the first round of the knockout round, which made their promotion prospects not optimistic. It can be said that the current situation facing Manchester United is almost beyond the expectations of everyone before the season.
Fortunately, in the past period, United's state has shown some signs of improvement. They have won three league games in a row and have not let their opponents break the goal in two consecutive league games. This is a great thing for the team, as United have conceded 24 goals in 16 games this season, averaging 1.5 goals per game. However, objectively speaking, The strength of United's opponents in these two games is relatively average, Crystal Palace is in the lower reaches of the standings, and Norwich is at the bottom of the table. Whether United's form is really back on track will need to be further verified in the next games. Especially in the Champions League, whether on the offensive end or on the defensive end, United need to come up with a level above the league, otherwise the round of sixteen is likely to be the end of this season.
Judging from the Manchester United squad, the team is in urgent need of reinforcements in some positions, such as the defensive back position. United lack a defensively capable player in this position, and Fred and McTominay have proven more than once that they are not up to the task, which has led to the team's backline often having to face the opposing attacking player directly, which is also a big reason why United's defenders have generally underperformed this season. However, in this position, Manchester United seems to have no suitable targets for reinforcements. Although there are sources that they are interested in players such as Casey, Brozovic, Zakaria, etc., it seems that they have not started substantive operations. If United ultimately fail to make a real reinforcement in this position, it will be difficult for the team to really improve in the second half of the season.
Relative to the shortage of good players at the back, in the forward line, Manchester United's state is "overcrowded". Many players, including Martial, Cavani, Jesse Lingard and others, most of the time can only sit on the bench and watch their teammates play. As things stand, Jesse Lingard seems inclined to leave the team at the end of the season, when his contract expires and he can get decent personal treatment. Martial has previously expressed hope to leave the team during the winter break, and Barca could be his next stop. Cavani's situation is more special, although his contract will expire only half a year, but it seems that the 34-year-old veteran is not willing to continue to sit on the bench for half a season, and he hopes to get more opportunities to play at the end of his career. According to Western media, Cavani has clearly announced to his friends around him that he will leave the team during the winter break. It is also possible that Cavani will choose to move to Barcelona.
In addition, in the team's center-back position, due to Maguire's significant decline in form this season, Bailly and Lindelof have not improved at all, so the team is also preparing to continue to sign a top-level center-back. According to transfer expert Falk, United want to sign Chelsea centre-back Rudiger. Manchester United boss Ronnick has already communicated with Rudiger. It is reported that Rudiger's request for personal treatment is about 290,000 pounds a week. However, one thing for United to note is that while Rudiger has performed well this season, this is a performance in a three-back system. In the previous system of four defenders, Rudiger did not perform very well, and his habit of defending frizz remains. (The picture comes from the Internet, if there is infringement, please contact to delete)