WHY SAY ANYTHING?

Following our recent article suggesting four players who would benefit from being sold and the interest it created, we are moved to follow up with another three who should join them on the transfer list.

As José Mourinho reads this, in between scanning the transfer rumours and trying to remember whether he paid his tax in Spain or not, he will no doubt be thinking how much sense it would make to rid his club of the following, if at all possible:

Ashley Young

He had one decent season under Sir Alex Ferguson and has struggled ever since. He was, apparently, appreciated by van Gaal and then again by Mourinho for his willingness to run around like a headless chicken. Up and down, up and down, then up and down again went Ashley. Sometimes with the ball, sometimes without the ball. The occasions with the ball usually resulted in the team losing possession as he sent a cross miles into the crowd, or simply gifted the ball to the opposition.

His defensive ability, or lack of, has been shown up quite often. He is adept at giving away free kicks and his positional sense is remarkable only for it’s absence.

Managers have been quick to praise him in the recent past although, in fairness, they usually praise his effort rather than any ability or skill shown during a game.

Ashley Young has overstayed his welcome by about two-three years and is quite lucky that the focus of attention has recently switched to others deserving of the boot. His time will come and it should come in the next month or so.

Matteo Darmian

Another one of Louis van Gaal’s Signings who, originally, looked a good buy. A regular international for Italy, it seemed he was just what United needed. It wasn’t long, however, before his form dipped and, when Mourinho arrived, it looked like he would be sold without playing another game.

Since then he has had an upsurge in form and has strung together a few decent perfomances. He still hasn’t reached the levels consistently required of a Manchester United player and, consequently, needs to be sold. Having said that, it is quite likely that he will return to Italy during this transfer window if a suitable replacement can be found.

Anthony Martial

This is the most contentious of the three. Many fans will point to the fact that he has been playing out wide in his last few appearances for United. He is capable in this position and can, when on form, go past players with ease. He then appears to be reluctant to release the ball and would rather try shots from impossible angles than pass to a team mate. This is due to the striker’s mentality within him.

He needs to be given a chance playing as the central striker, where he began his career with United and performed very well. The problem is that he is/was competing with Wayne Rooney, (not much competition there then), Marcus Rashford and Zlatan Ibrahimović for this role and, it appears, he has fallen to third choice in the pecking order.

If this is the case then United either need to be patient whilst he is transformed into a genuine wide-man or, with the impending arrival of a new striker, they need to sell him.

We here at WSA would rather he be given a chance to show how good he can become as he is still very young and should improve over the years. José Mourinho, however, is not renowned for being a manager who waits for players to improve and is quite likely to pull the trigger should no improvement be apparent in the early stages of next season.

So there you have it. Add these three players to the four mentioned in our previous article, (it’s here, in case you missed it), and you have seven players who would not be particularly missed were they to leave Old Trafford.

Do you agree with is or not? Let us know in the comments.