Unsurprisingly, our Manchester United supporters here in the Football Transfer Tavern have been on the double spirits lately to ease their pain of a quite simply horrible week.
Heading out of the Champions League last Tuesday evening ahead of going under 2-1 at AFC Bournemouth on the weekend, today’s Europa League tie with FC Midtjylland was hardly inspiring either and surely not what Louis van Gaal would’ve had in mind at the start of the campaign.
But if only Manchester United could call upon a certain Pep Guardiola right now?
According to today’s copy of the Daily Star, the reports claim United chiefs are growing increasingly confident that they can do a deal for the top class Spanish manager once he decides to move on from Bayern Munich.
Quite rightly, Louis van Gaal is on the rocks at the minute and a fair few of our Red Devils regulars are truly questioning whether the club are actually even closer to winning the Premier League compared to the spell of David Moyes before him.
The problem is that van Gaal has splashed an incredible £250 million on this team and rival fans have been poking fun that there isn’t a single world class outfield player in the team outside David De Gea of course!
You could forgive our United supporters for daydreaming given the current mess they find themselves within and that’s why today, we’ve produced a five-man shortlist of players who could potentially follow Guardiola to Old Trafford, if appointed in the coming seasons.
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Click on the image below to reveal the five players Pep Guardiola could sign for Manchester United if he joins.
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Thiago Alcantara
When Pep Guardiola swapped Barcelona for Bayern Munich back in 2013, so did this man Thiago Alcantara who in essence is a close disciple of the Catalan manager.
Receiving his big chance with the Bavarian giants, Thiago is quite rightly touted as one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the job and given this bond between both manager and player, surely he’d be in Guardiola’s thinking should he eventually get the job at Old Trafford?
Yes, United moved to significantly strengthen the central midfield area already this past summer under van Gaal but Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini aren’t long-term answers, Bastian Schweinsteiger will be another year older amid people questioning his capabilities and Morgan Schneiderlin is still yet to show he’s up to it in a United shirt.
Thiago – still 24-years-old – has his best years ahead of him and is among that calibre of players who could come in and prove effective right from the off.
Douglas Costa
We saw in Bayern Munich’s two Champions League group games against Arsenal just how devastating Douglas Costa can be and United fans would’ve been watching thinking what if?
What if because the club had been long-term admirers of the Brazilian international even before his days at Shakhtar Donetsk but a deal could eventually come to fruition if Guardiola made the switch.
Signing Costa for £21 million from the Ukrainian giants this past summer, the player has been worth every penny and you have to question why United aren’t looking for better value in the market such as this rather than splashing £36 million on the likes of Anthony Martial.
The biggest criticism of van Gaal by a section of United fans is that he isn’t playing the United way but if the club had true wingers in the Ryan Giggs mould such as Douglas Costa and under Guardiola to boot, the glory days could be emulated once again.
Robert Lewandowski
Quite simply, the complete number nine.
If Guardiola was appointed at Manchester United tomorrow, surely this is the first man that he’d be looking to land as his first new signing?
The Polish superstar already has 15 Bundesliga goals in his first 15 league appearances so far this season and how United could do with a regular goalscorer such as this in their armoury right now?
Capable of scoring all types of goals whether they’re in the air or down on the deck, there’s no shifting Lewandowski at present who is playing for one of the best teams, if not the best team in the world but Guardiola’s potential United switch could at least improve their fortunes in signing him.
If United are to continue their big spending ways under Ed Woodward, splashing a handsome fee one somebody as good as Lewandowski would be considered sound business because you know exactly what you’re going to get from him – goals!
The Red Devils will just have to ensure it’s the Champions League and not the Europa League that they’re qualifying for in the next couple of seasons to prove a draw for the likes of Lewandowski.
Kingsley Coman
One young man taking his big chance at Bayern Munich right now is 19-year-old winger Kingsley Coman who is currently enjoying a season-long loan spell at the Allianz Arena.
With his parent club being Juventus with the teenager having already spent time with Paris Saint-Germain, this is some CV for somebody who hasn’t even reached his 20th birthday yet!
While Coman received fleeting experiences with both PSG and Juve, he is getting far more game time at Bayern right now and you can see he boasts potential in abundance.
Only set to get better with his stock rising in the next couple of years, Guardiola could bring Coman to Old Trafford with him if appointed given that ultimately, he’s been the manager to have awarded him his big chance this season.
What’s more, United already boast Anthony Martial and there’s no doubting that both he and Coman are the future of the French attack at international level with both having already called up by Didier Deschamps despite their years.
Neymar
A few of our punters here in the tavern naturally assume that Guardiola has already coached Neymar in his career but this is a false accusation with the Brazilian superstar arriving at the Camp Nou in 2013 after Pep joined Bayern in 2012.
Nevertheless, United’s interest in Neymar over the past couple of years has been well documented with even the player’s father having referenced it back in the summer.
Guardiola would give the club a whole new dimension under his leadership and there would be no doubting the fact that the world’s best players would want to more readily join a club with Pep at the head of it.
Neymar is certainly among that category and his huge wages are always brought up by the press as something that could hinder him remaining at Barcelona long-term.
Still just 23-years-old of course, it’s scary that Neymar still has his best years ahead of him considering what he’s achieved in the game already and not as engrained in Barcelona culture such as Lionel Messi, why not Manchester United next in his incredible career?
