While Manchester United might have won the recent Champions League game against Villarreal with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the winner in stoppage time, it is safe to say that the performance left a lot to be desired and they could have easily lost the match if not for the heroics of David de Gea in goal. Thus, the displays must improve moving forward if they are to challenge for titles this season.
The slow start has been a bit of a surprise considering how good the current squad is. They had already finished second in the Premier League last season and signed Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Tom Heaton over the course of the summer.
If there is one area that this squad is a bit light on options though, it is midfield. And former Manchester United captain, Ashley Young, has told the Red Devils that Paris Saint-Germain’s Marco Verratti could be a brilliant signing for them.
As reported by the Daily Star, Young told BBC Radio 5 Live:
"“The Michael Carrick type has been missing for years. They haven’t gone out and replaced Michael Carrick.“Don’t get me wrong – Fred and [Scott] McTominay are good players but I don’t think there’s a Michael Carrick around.“I was watching the PSG v City game yesterday and I think Marco Verratti is the closest one and nobody’s gone out to test the water to try to sign him.“I think he would be an unbelievable signing for Manchester United.”"
Can Manchester United sign Verratti in the future?
Verratti is one of the best players in the world when it comes to playing his role and as a result, he could definitely be a great signing for Manchester United. The bigger question is, will the club be able to sign him?
He has been at Paris Saint-Germain for almost a decade now. And the French Ligue 1 giants are not a club known for letting their best players leave in their primes. Thus, any move for Verratti would be difficult to pull off.
It must be pointed out that Verratti is not a player that Manchester United have been heavily linked with recently. The names of players like Declan Rice, Aurelien Tchouameni and Ruben Neves have come up much more often as possible transfer targets.