Rio Ferdinand wants fringe Manchester United star to be a starter

Rio Ferdinand has called for the fringe star to be a starter for Manchester United as he believes he could be the solution to their problems.

Due to a muscle injury, Harry Maguire was excluded from the squad against Paris Saint-Germain and Ole Gunner Solskjaer had to decide on his replacement. Much to everyone’s surprise Axel Tuanzebe, was in the starting line-up in one of the biggest games of Manchester United’s season.

The centre-back had not played for over 10 months due to his injuries and Solskjaer, still trusted him enough to bring him back in a Champions League game against PSG. With Maguire absent, the manager had to switch up his formation. He went with a 3-4-1-2, with Tuanzebe on the right of the back three, Lindelof in the centre and Luke Shaw on the left.

It might be safe to say that on Tuesday night, United fans all over the world saw the defensive display of the season with Tuanzebe and Aaron Wan-Bissaka doing particularly well in keeping the Paris attackers at bay, as the Red Devils secured a 2-1 win.

It did not feel like Tuanzebe had been absent from the pitch for over 10 months, winning 100% of the aerial duels, having a 92% passing accuracy, 7 clearances and 1 block. All of the tackles he made in the game were outstanding, with one standing out in particular when he pressed down on Mbappe in the penalty box, which otherwise would have resulted in United conceding a goal in the latter half of the game.

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand was full of praise for the 22-year-old and believes that he could be the ultimate solution to the staggering defence of the club.

As reported by Metro, this is what Ferdinand said in his interview with BT Sport:

"“You have to reward performances like that. He’s had a hard time with injuries – first game in 10 months – to come in and play like that, from in out of the cold, you deserve to be rewarded.“But Ole is the man to make that decision.“This is where Man United have struggled in the last six to 12 months, in them areas chasing players down the channels, they can’t stay with them and then obviously that opens up the back four or back three. But he was smelling danger.”"

More from Manchester United News

• Aaron Wan Bissaka out for ‘several weeks’ with injury
• Sofyan Amrabat set to miss game against Brighton
• Preview: Manchester United vs Brighton – What you need to know
• Jadon Sancho set to train away from first team squad
• Mike Phelan blasts Manchester United teammates over Ronaldo exit

From the win in Paris, it is now clear that United have what it takes to cause problems to even the strongest teams in the world on their day. It has also given Solskjaer more options to explore at the back and we might be able to see more of Axel Tuanzebe action in the future.

It will interesting to see whether the manager decides to use this formation going forward after how well it worked on Tuesday. Or he decides to go back to his preferred formation when Maguire is back from injury.

It will be hard to drop Tuanzebe after how good he was against Paris Saint-Germain. But then Maguire comes with a £80 million. And that puts pressure on Solskjaer as well to get him to perform.

Whichever he ends up choosing, rest assured that it will be a difficult decision for him.