If you were a neutral, you would’ve absolutely loved Newcastle United versus Manchester United last night but if you were a supporter of either team, your heart would’ve skipped a few beats during the 90 minutes that’s for sure!
Our Red Devils contingent were naturally gutted that Louis van Gaal’s team couldn’t hold onto the lead as given to them by Wayne Rooney late on in the day but at least the goals were coming far more easily than they did against Sheffield United in the FA Cup at the weekend.
Sitting sixth after the culmination of Tuesday evening’s fixtures, Manchester United have been in the mix for a top four qualification place all season long but Red Devils fans expect so much more from their side considering van Gaal spent a good £250 million odd on it!
Injuries aside, you would expect this United team to be looking far more like the finished article rather than a work in progress but unfortunately it’s the latter for Red Devils supporters to endure at the minute.
With a lot of talk surrounding Lazio’s Felipe Anderson becoming a big money arrival at Old Trafford this summer, today we’re concentrating on five players who we think the club should be disposing of this month to free up some squad space.
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Click on the image below to reveal the five players Manchester United should definitely axe this month.
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Marouane Fellaini
Playing the full 90 minutes again at St James’ Park last night, Fellaini has been in the starting eleven for a little while now but there are still doubts whether he is really true Manchester United class.
All Red Devils fans have to question themselves is whether any of them would retain Fellaini in the team if say Isco arrived tomorrow?
Having stuck around and fought for his United career longer than many would have expected following David Moyes’ departure, Fellaini has the odd good game here and there but you get the overall sense that United fans only believe he’s a stop-gap solution who can be improved upon.
On January 4th, we read in the Daily Mail that United want to keep Fellaini however amid interest from Italian giants AC Milan.
Marcos Rojo
All in all, injury troubles have blighted Marcos Rojo’s Manchester United career to date with the Argentine international still out with a dislocated shoulder after a brief run back in the team.
Having made only nine starts in all competitions so far this season, Rojo has cut a forgettable character at Old Trafford for a little while now – his fault sometimes and not – and the rumours are that Louis van Gaal is looking at around a £30 million swoop for Wolfsburg’s Swiss international Ricardo Rodriguez.
If a swoop such as that were to come off, not to mention Luke Shaw eventually returning to fulfil his promise, this would surely leave Rojo surplus to requirements?
Victor Valdes
Remember him?
Victor Valdes’ career has turned into a farce since signing from Barcelona and having played two games last season against both Arsenal and Hull City, he hasn’t figured since.
Cast out in the cold by Louis van Gaal, the latest on Valdes’ situation is that he’s willing to give up £500,000 in wages to bring an end to his Old Trafford hell according to the Daily Star.
Currently 34-years-old, the Spaniard is reaching the tail end of his career but everybody knows goalkeepers can go on that bit longer and surely a return to La Liga must be on the player’s mind.
Will Keane
Will Keane has only just returned to Old Trafford following a largely fruitless loan spell at Championship outfit Preston North End in which he registered just a single goal in 20 appearances for the Lilywhites.
Having spent four separate loan spells away from Old Trafford now, Keane is swimming dangerously towards getting released pending a half decent offer from a Football League club.
The simple math is that he hasn’t shown too much outside a decent loan spell with Sheffield Wednesday in the 2014/15 season and with this being the case, he’s hardly going to ever make it at Old Trafford.
Nick Powell
We saw Nick Powell ever so briefly return to the Manchester United fold after what seemed like donkeys years out before Christmas whereby he made two substitutes’ appearances against both Wolfsburg and AFC Bournemouth but guess what, he’s back on the treatment table right now.
While getting a suitor may prove difficult with Powell’s injury proneness bordering on the ridiculous (such a shame for a talented youngster), we think that turning his career around at Old Trafford from now is going to be a humongous task.
Having spent time on loan at Wigan Athletic and Leicester City in his Red Devils career, we think that Powell should be earmarking a transfer to a Championship outfit to go about rebuilding his development.
