Why Manchester United SHOULD pay Ander Herrera what he wants!

Manchester United have just two games left of the 2019/20 season and it appears after those two fixtures, Ander Herrera will pack up his things and get ready to become a Paris Saint Germain player. His performance on Sunday reminded us all, of why he is such a valuable asset to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team and why fans really don’t want him to leave.

There a number of ways you could look at the Ander Herrera situation. One, rather cool-blooded way would be suggesting that he isn’t title-winning quality anyway and therefore the club can sign better. Unfortunately, Manchester United are a long way off title-winning quality themselves at the minute and getting rid of a player who will help you along the way reach that level is naive.

Another, more reasonable way of looking at it is by trying to calculate Herrera’s mindset. If the Spaniard is wanting away from Old Trafford on the basis that he can get in excess of £200,000 at PSG, as reported by The Sun, then does he really possess the right mindset to play for the club?

My view is that the club should pay Herrera the £160,000 weekly wages he wants. This is a man who loves the club. You cannot put on the passion and respect he has shown for the badge over the past five years.

But it’s not just psychologically where Herrera has been strong, on the pitch, he has been equally impressive. According to WhoScored.com, in his first eleven games of this season under Jose Mourinho, the 29-year old played 11 games averaging a match rating of 6.79 per game. In his 12 matches since under Solskjaer, Herrera has averaged 7.06.

He doesn’t just raise his own game but the whole teams too. This tweet demonstrates how important Herrera is to this current Manchester United side. Adding the results of Manchester City and Chelsea only boost the readings for the midfielder further.

The ramifications of caving into players demands and paying individuals who haven’t always been first-teamers high salaries can be a problem. Players who have been in similar situations to Herrera in the past will be soon asking for a pay rise too, the minute they put a run together in the first XI. However, this problem doesn’t stem from the former-Bilbao man, it resonates back in January of 2018.

It’s not very often a player like Ander Herrera comes around, especially in the modern game. He’s a Manchester United footballer who breathes the same air as the fans. He gets it. He gets the club. But more than this, his performances have been tremendous too. Had Solskjaer arrived in August he would potentially be looking at a second Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year in three years.

Weighing all of this up, do I believe he is worth £160k a week? Does he deserve to sit a tier below the likes of David de Gea, Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba? My answer is, yes, I really do. His performance on Sunday gave us all a little reminder about what he is all about.

Getting on the title-challenging path is something Manchester United will be hoping to do over the next couple of seasons. Some big decisions will need to be made off the field, but the hierarchy will also have some footballing decisions to make in order to give the players and Ole the best chance at success.

For me, this a “footballing decision”. Solskjaer will be getting rid of a lot of players this summer, so must keep the ones he wants to keep. The question is simple, ‘Is the club better off with a 100% fit and firing Ander Herrera, or without?’ And the answer… Sí.