Manchester United Player Position Priorities

I wouldn’t be judging any of the Manchester United summer signings just yet, as none have been given a fair crack at the whip. They’ve either been injured and unable to play regularly, or have seen their form impacted by the injuries and the dysfunctional play of the team as a whole.

Be that Mount and Amrabat whose injuries have disrupted their ability to settle. Or Onana with the every changing and seriously weakened defence in front of him leaving him over exposed and over worked. Or Hojlund with a dysfunctional midfield creating pretty much zero chances for him. None have had a fair chance to show what they are capable of in a United shirt.

There are many more pressing needs than trying to upgrade the United keeper. Our succession planning is so poor that we went from having DDG, arguably the best No.2 in the league in Romero and probably the most promising young English goalkeeper in Henderson at the time. To having Onana bought for £50m, with Bayindir and Heaton as back up.

DDG should never have been given his last big contract. Since he signed that his form went out the window, only partially recovering last season when he was playing for a new deal. We should have let him leave then, given Romero the No.1 shirt for a season to see how he can do with Henderson as back up. Given both of them a shot to see what they could do while we scouted for the best up and coming young keepers.

We could have signed someone like Mike Maignon who would have been available and is probably one of only a handful of keepers who I would say are definitely better than Onana. The others for me who are a cut above Onana are Alisson, Ter Stegen and Courtois. Neuer sadly will need a miracle to return at all, let alone return to the same level he was at before.

There are other good keepers, but they all have clear weaknesses and for me are much of a muchness with Onana. None of the ones who are better than Onana are going to be available, maybe Maignon if we offered a big enough fee to AC Milan might be getable. But we aren’t going to be signing the first choice keepers from Liverpool, Barcelona or Real Madrid. Besides two of them are also out with long term injuries.

Any other possible targets we could sign in the goalkeeper position are either younger players with potential or players on a similar level to Onana (great at some things, but with a clear area or two of weakness). So for me there is little point in looking to spend money on a keeper who at best might be…