Selling Daley Blind has cost Manchester United a place in the Champions League semi-finals

Manchester United should not have sold Daley Blind last summer. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would have worked wonders with the defender.

Manchester United have been knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona following a three-goal thrashing at the Camp Nou.

Meanwhile, Daley Blind, who was sold back to Ajax last summer after spending four seasons at Old Trafford, has helped secure his side’s place in the semi-finals after beating Juventus 2-1 in Turin.

Yes, you heard that right – Blind, who left United to join a lesser side, has progressed further in the Champions League and could be well on his way to the final. How has the club allowed this to happen?

The 29-year-old was phenomenal against Juventus, keeping Paulo Dybala in his pocket all game, and has been putting in consistent defensive performances for Ajax all season.

On the other hand, United are relying on the likes of Ashley Young – a 33-year-old converted winger – to mark Lionel Messi – the best footballer in the world – and it cost us a place in the semi-finals.

You could argue that Blind wasn’t all that spectacular during his time at United, so there was no knowing that we would have ended up missing him this badly – but that’s nonsense.

If United had a director of football in place, there is no way that we would be using an ageing winger at full-back right now instead of holding onto a natural defender who was just hitting his prime.

Now Ajax are reaping the benefits of Blind’s time at United, and we’re left to deal with the incompetence of our club’s internal structure.

Hopefully, once the board have appointed a director of football to work alongside Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, our transfer strategy will be much improved and we will actually start getting rid of some actual dead weight in the squad.