Right back....what are the options (if any)?

Wayne's World

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Just looking through after seeing Valencia's shocking performance against Newcastle tonight and thinking "what right-backs are out there right now" and I found it very difficult to find any. The one we should have went for was Joao Cancelo, who moved to Juventus last summer and established himself as one of the best in the world.

So what got me thinking is which players are next in line as we can't continue as a big club with Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young as first choice, good squad options but If we want to be winning things in the next couple of years then they aren't the options we should have as they quite frankly ain't good enough. Dalot is simply just too young to be first choice right back at United but he's one who we will continue to develop at the club and get better and more adjusted to the league and country.

The one interesting one we could explore is Aaron Wan-Bissaka, recently just turned 21 and I must admit I only noticed him this season when Liverpool played Palace away earlier in the season when he was fantastic, was very strong in challenges and timed them to perfection against a fluent Liverpool attack even though he was sent off later in the game but he was their MOTM. He also impressed me with how he played against us at Old Trafford too.

There seems to be a dying breed of top quality right-backs out there so it's going to a difficult position to cover in the summer/January this year.
 

bosnian_red

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Dalot is promising but obviously not ready. Question is how quickly can he become good enough to be the main guy for such a demanding position? Young and whoever else is fine for the short term if Dalot progresses quickly, if not, we need someone obviously. Not sure a younger guy like Wan Bissaka would be the thing to do anyway, plus with some younger players in the reserves along with Dalot obviously who look good. Someone around 28/29 years of age for right back would be ideal to carry us over. Who is that right back, feck knows.
 

bucky

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Already posted this article in another thread, but maybe some missed it:

 

sam147

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Dalot is very young. We should sign someone with instant quality. Meunier is a player many would want at United. I would prefer Hysaj from Napoli.
 

Adnan

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Just looking through after seeing Valencia's shocking performance against Newcastle tonight and thinking "what right-backs are out there right now" and I found it very difficult to find any. The one we should have went for was Joao Cancelo, who moved to Juventus last summer and established himself as one of the best in the world.

So what got me thinking is which players are next in line as we can't continue as a big club with Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young as first choice, good squad options but If we want to be winning things in the next couple of years then they aren't the options we should have as they quite frankly ain't good enough. Dalot is simply just too young to be first choice right back at United but he's one who we will continue to develop at the club and get better and more adjusted to the league and country.

The one interesting one we could explore is Aaron Wan-Bissaka, recently just turned 21 and I must admit I only noticed him this season when Liverpool played Palace away earlier in the season when he was fantastic, was very strong in challenges and timed them to perfection against a fluent Liverpool attack even though he was sent off later in the game but he was their MOTM. He also impressed me with how he played against us at Old Trafford too.

There seems to be a dying breed of top quality right-backs out there so it's going to a difficult position to cover in the summer/January this year.
I wanted Cancelo as our RB and many disagreed with me at the time. He was on loan at Inter from Valencia and he was available for a reasonable fee. Juve pounced and picked up a bargain, he has been in fantastic form for them.
 

endless_wheelies

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We can probably hoist one off Tottenham seeming as they have Walker-Peters coming through and are looking to sign Aarons.
 

Adnan

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We can probably hoist one off Tottenham seeming as they have Walker-Peters coming through and are looking to sign Aarons.
I personally don't rate Rose and we'd get fleeced by Levy. And their RB is Trippier who is good, but we could do better.
 

Orange Tree

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I want to see how Dolot improves this season. But yeah, if we are going to buy a RB, my first choice would Wan-Bissaka.
 

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If we went after a new RB this summer the obvious choice would be Aaron Wan-Bissaka of Crystal Palace.
 

Devil may care

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Meunier is the most logical choice to me, 28, experienced, the right age to provide prime ready made quality and be the bridge to Dalot becoming our long term RB.
 

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I’d just play Dalot from now until the summer. At least that way we’ve got a few months to decide if it’s an urgent position that needs addressing or if we can prioritise other areas. If he’s ready, great.
 

In Rainbows

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Dalot. He's young, and seeing as this is a transition year it's the perfect time to develop him further.
 

Escobar

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Dalot. He's young, and seeing as this is a transition year it's the perfect time to develop him further.
Dalot should be one option, but we need another one. Valencia should have played his last game for us yesterday.
 

charlenefan

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Meunier is the most logical choice to me, 28, experienced, the right age to provide prime ready made quality and be the bridge to Dalot becoming our long term RB.
From an attacking sense Meunier is probably the best option, however...

If we went after a new RB this summer the obvious choice would be Aaron Wan-Bissaka of Crystal Palace.
This would be my choice. Highest dribble rate for a defender in the PL, best record defensively in 1 v 1's, young and English, shouldn't cost a fortune
 

settembrini

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We should wait and see how Dalot does for the rest of the season. Just one decent run in the team would make judging him easier.

I agree that Valencia is finished and needs to be cut from the squad though.
 

Alabaster Codify7

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Valencia - OUT
New RB (aged around 26-30) - IN.

Dalot and newby battle it with Young covering both sides if needed.
 

Bwuk

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Meunier is the right age considering we’ve got a relatively young back 4, plus I don’t think he’d cost a ridiculous fee unless he renews his PSG contract - think it expires in 2020.

Him & Dalot as his understudy.
 

Flytan

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Honestly just take a punt on any established RB at this point. Valencia offers literally nothing at this point in his career and Young gets caught out of position a bit too much (though he's still fine as an emergency RB and obviously puts in some good shifts). Anyone that would be fine splitting time with Dalot and isn't a type of project or risk. Just need someone who can provide some type of threat going forward.
 

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Wan-Bissaka should be a top priority for us in the summer.

I also really like Yedlin.
 

IrishRedDevil

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Matt Doherty from Wolves.

27 years old in the next 2 weeks, so the right age to play for a few years while Dalot learns and rotates with him occasionally. He would give us a good 3 years and then Dalot will be 22/23.

He would give us much needed attacking threat on the right hand side. Reminds me of Andy Robertson in terms of his style of play.
 

CM10

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Meunier with Dalot as his understudy would be a very good combination. When was the last time we had two actual full-backs competing for the same position?
 

LoveFootball

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Play Dalot there and instruct Herrera to cover for him. I like Valencia but we should terminate his contract asap and either sell him or give him an ambassador role.
 

Ace of Spades

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I think Young and Dalot are fine as options. Dalot needs time on the pitch, and I think he will start getting better once he gets more settled. You look at Lindelof, and can see that sometimes players need a bit of adjustment period. There are other areas that need to be prioritised, mainly CB, RW and backup LB.
 

Dong Fangzhuo

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Matt Doherty from Wolves.

27 years old in the next 2 weeks, so the right age to play for a few years while Dalot learns and rotates with him occasionally. He would give us a good 3 years and then Dalot will be 22/23.

He would give us much needed attacking threat on the right hand side. Reminds me of Andy Robertson in terms of his style of play.
Doherty isn't really an option for a team playing a back 4. He's not a RB, he's more like a right sided Alonso, a winger masquerading as a wingback. He's completely useless defensively.
 

Adam-Utd

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AWB. Great defensively, former winger so i'm sure he will be good going forward, but doesn't get to show it much for Palace.

He and Dalot could be a great pair of fullbacks for the next 10 years.
 

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As far as i see it the club has two alternatives based on what the club aims for;

Alternative 1: The club thinks they can realistically challenge Liverpool and City for the title next season. Then they need to upgrade the RB position(And the rest of the defense), and Meunier would be a suiting upgrade with a contract going out in 2020 should be affordable.

Alternative 2: The club thinks that the gap between us and Liverpool/City is to big to be closed in one season and would rather give Dalot and maybe Laird a chance to prove themselves with Young as a stepin if they don't perform. No signings needed, but we could sign a player comfortable playing both sides like Wan-Bissaka or one able to play RB and CB like Dumfries.
 

Devil may care

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From an attacking sense Meunier is probably the best option, however...

This would be my choice. Highest dribble rate for a defender in the PL, best record defensively in 1 v 1's, young and English, shouldn't cost a fortune
The attacking is really the most important aspect of a fullback these days and would be under Ole/Poch/Zidane if you look at how they play. Wan Bissaka is also only 21 so he'd cut off Dalot's chances rather then provide a cushion to blood him in, plus he would cost a fortune as he's English so there'd be that tax on top of the United tax on top of the £30M starting point.
 

Fosu-Mens

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The attacking is really the most important aspect of a fullback these days and would be under Ole/Poch/Zidane if you look at how they play. Wan Bissaka is also only 21 so he'd cut off Dalot's chances rather then provide a cushion to blood him in, plus he would cost a fortune as he's English so there'd be that tax on top of the United tax on top of the £30M starting point.
We own a certain percentage of Zahas next transfer. Could be used as part of the deal.
 

devilish

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If we truly believe that Dalot is going to become a top player then we must play him, week in week out. No player will ever become WC by sitting on the bench and watch other play. I am a firm believer in Dalot's talent so I think that all we need is a backup/competitor for him, possibly on the cheap. Maybe we can re-sign Rafael since he's heading towards the end of his contract.
 
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Invictus

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Might as well sell Dalot if we sign Wan-Bissaka — both of them are very good fullback talents and neither will be pleased with a stop-start role in a crucial phase in their development. Players from a weaker league usually take time to acclimatize to a higher standard, especially one who has played less than 20 first team matches at Porto and United combined like Dalot...either put your faith in him as the nominal starter (and potential right-back mainstay for the next decade) and surround him with an experienced head who can act as bridge option while the former grows in stature (bearing in mind that Dalot was coveted by a host of clubs for a reason and was an elite player in the youth circuit), or get rid and sign Wan-Bissaka (or possibly Hakimi if Madrid are amenable). I'd probably sign Alves on a 1-2 year contract and go with the former option — think Dalot could learn a lot from a serial winner and one of the best fullbacks in modern football, and someone with Alves' nous/experience/gravitas would be hugely beneficial for the squad in general. Or maybe Juanfran, whose contract at Atlético also expires in the summer...
Filipe Luis, Juanfran and Diego Godin will all be able to negotiate free transfers away from Atletico Madrid with any club they like from the first day of 2019, with their current contracts set to expire on June 30.

Los Rojiblancos find themselves in this rather uncomfortable situation after, particularly in the case of the Brazilian, not being able to agree terms for new deals.
https://www.marca.com/en/football/spanish-football/2019/01/01/5c2949b4e5fdeab0778b45bb.html

Neither will hamper Dalot's development and would probably be ok with somewhat diminished roles over the next couple of seasons considering their age profile.
 

Devil may care

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We own a certain percentage of Zahas next transfer. Could be used as part of the deal.
I'd be surprised if Palace did that as they don't need to sell Zaha any time soon as didn't he just sign a new 5 year contract? So any fee they got for him would be so high they don't need to worry about the cut we'd get.
 

WolfInSharp'sClothing

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The one interesting one we could explore is Aaron Wan-Bissaka, recently just turned 21 and I must admit I only noticed him this season when Liverpool played Palace away earlier in the season when he was fantastic, was very strong in challenges and timed them to perfection against a fluent Liverpool attack even though he was sent off later in the game but he was their MOTM. He also impressed me with how he played against us at Old Trafford too.
Saw Wan-Bissaka play live last night for the first time. He made everything look very easy.

I think he's destined to go right to the top and would expect him to be playing for England before too long.
 

Fosu-Mens

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I'd be surprised if Palace did that as they don't need to sell Zaha any time soon as didn't he just sign a new 5 year contract? So any fee they got for him would be so high they don't need to worry about the cut we'd get.
Throw in TFM and get a discount. And if Zaha plays well for the rest of the season i think Chelsea might go after him, and Zaha would certainly like to try his trade at a bigger club than CP.
 

Devil may care

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Throw in TFM and get a discount. And if Zaha plays well for the rest of the season i think Chelsea might go after him, and Zaha would certainly like to try his trade at a bigger club than CP.
Would they want TFM? He's shown nothing to suggest he's PL quality so far. I think Invictus is spot on, if we buy Bissaka we might as well sell Dalot, we need more of an age bridge RB IMO.
 

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Wan-Bissaka should be a top priority for us in the summer.

I also really like Yedlin.
Was having this discussion with my mate yesterday about Yedlin. I watched him in the MLS with Seattle where he stood out a country mile. There were times when he controlled games from RB the way Dani Alves did at Sevilla. So when he moved to spurs I was excited to see him as he came at a time when the roll of the full back was changing and he seemed to have everything in his locker. This also coincided with your standard left winger being right footed and always cutting inside, which Yedlin literally never had to defend against once in the MLS. He was so effective because any ball in behind, he would be first to it. But the reason he got punted from spurs to Sunderland so fast was that he has absolutely no idea how to stop a player from cutting inside. I watched him one on one v martial a few times last night and he was showing him inside. What he should be doing is showing players down the line because that’s where he is effective. He can’t tackle with his left foot properly, and has a much stronger left shoulder barge than a right (like a lot of people) yet he has no tactical understanding of how to force an attacker into a space where he can actually do what he’s good at.

Short explanation, he lacks the basic understanding of what the right back role is defensively and we should steer clear.
 

Rauður Djöfull

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Get Wan-Bissaka in, exactly the kind of player Sir Alex would have gone for and I reckon a player Ole would and should be in for. A propper Utd signing, like charlenefan says: Highest dribble rate for a defender in the PL, best record defensively in 1 v 1's, young and English, shouldn't cost a fortune

Let him battle it out with Dalot and do the same on the other side, buy Tierny as competition for Shaw, young, propper british talent with bags of potential