Red Devil Armada
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Manchester United’s Transfer rumors and Shopping List

By Martin Frasier

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With the start of a brand new season right around the corner, the Manchester United top brass are sprinting towards the season, but have yet to fulfill Jose Mourinho’s transfer window desires.

In a time where money rules supreme and talent is just behind the 60 million dollar fee door, Manchester United needs to act fast in the Transfer Market and provide the team with two major signings to remain competitive this year.

Manchester United has already brought in Fred from Shakhtar Donetsk, Diogo Dalot from FC Porto, and Lee Grant from….Stoke. This is not an ideal Transfer Window for Jose Mourinho and he has his sights on two more signings before the window closes and the season kicks off.

Harry Maguire and Yerry Mina are very interesting prospects for Manchester United to pursue. Maguire was impressive last year with Leicester and incredible during England’s WC run (It’s still coming home lads, it’s just delayed) so it’s no surprise that Leicester is reluctant to sell. If United can convince them to sell, then it would a huge boost to their defense.

Maguire’s style of play is fun to watch. He’s powerful with his body and is not afraid of using his weight and strength to stonewall the opposition. Since Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic left Manchester, there has been a lack of passion; a lack of bite and bully in the United defense and I think Maguire will be able to fill this void and make other teams think twice about taking the direct route.

He’s too strong to muscle off the ball and too tall and quick to beat on crossing routes. He is young and somewhat inexperienced, but he’s well worth the risk. Only 25 and he can grow into Manchester United’s defense for years to come.

Yerry Mina is similar in style to Maguire. As in he’s a hulking center back that excels at using his own natural strength against opponents. This summer he commanded Colombia’s defense and was a arial threat on all corners and set pieces. As dangerous as he is in the air, he’s more dangerous on the ground.

The one downside that Mina brings is that he was atrocious for Barcelona this past season, but with regular playing time and learning under Mourinho, there is little doubt that he will find that World Cup success in the 2018 season. He’s not the fastest or technically gifted, but he’s what I like to call a Vidic defender.

He’ll put everything on the line to stop an attack; if that means a yellow card, so be it. Reports have come out that state Manchester United and Mina have agreed upon personal terms and are just waiting for a fee to be agreed upon.

Manchester United’s attack also needs to be addressed before the start of the season. With ongoing links with Perisic and Lewandowski, you can’t help but to be a little excited to see what happens. Coupling Lukaku with Perisic would be absolutely brilliant. Perisic is known for his speed and crossing ability on both flanks of the field and would play in the system brilliantly. In his time with Inter and Croatia, he has been hardworking on the offense and consistently tracks back to help with the defense.

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He’s a true two way player who is strong enough to deal with the physicality of the Premier League. Adding Perisic to the Manchester United squad would give them a direct threat on the wings. It would force opposing defense to track wingers more than they’d like which would open up all sorts of space in the center of the pitch where Lukaku excels. Tie Perisic’s work rate in with Alexis Sanchez and Lukaku’s and other teams will be overrun.

Another Serie A star is also linked to Manchester United who would fit perfectly into their system. Dries Mertens is a similar player to Perisic in the sense that he is a dangerous wide threat who has the ability to spread the defense. Additionally, Mertens possess speed that will make defenses uneasy and a killer finishing touch. After five brilliant seasons at Napoli, Mertens has honed his skill to become one of the most dangerous attackers in Italy.

Robert Lewandowski is coupled to any type of Pogba sale with Jose Mourinho demanding the Polish striker from Bayern before he agrees to sell Pogba. Lewandowski would certainly be an interesting choice for Mourinho and Manchester United. With Lukaku and Lewandowski leading the line, it will be a terrifying spectacle for all but the strongest defenders.

However, there is not really a need for a center forward, so unless Mourinho wants to change his formation to a 4-4-2 or a 3-5-2, it will be very interesting to see how he plays two star strikers at once. Lewandowski is a proven striker, talisman, poacher and would bring a certain edge to Manchester United that they haven’t seen since the Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez days.