Man United blew a late second half lead at newly promoted Leicester City on Sunday as a 3-1 advantage degenerated into a 5-3 collapse. We’re done pointing fingers, we’re done doing damage control as we took stock of the crisis situation in detail here. We’ve also discussed the opportunity that’s now there for Luke Shaw.
In the summer, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic left Man United and they never truly replaced their veteran leadership. They also lost out on Mehdi Benatia, Eliaquim Mangala, Mats Hummels, Thomas Vermaelen and Ezequiel Garay in the transfer market.
Now’s the time to look at who United could buy in January.
The Mirror listed five center-backs who could come to Old Trafford:
Nevan Subotic
Mats Hummels
Ron Vlaar
Diego Godin
Joel Matip
So go here to see their take on the viability of these options.
The Mirror also has this companion piece on what Louis van Gaal can do immediately at Man United to solve the defensive crisis. (read that here) He already went from his 3-5-2, which he staunchly retains, to a back four and a diamond in the midfield. So what’s next?
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partners with Fox Sports and Yahoo. Read his features stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN2