If you search the Manchester United grapevine of transfer rumours right now, what you’ll find as the biggest story is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s potential switch to Old Trafford.
As we all know by now, the Gabon international is one of the most lethal strikers in all of Europe and The Telegraph claim United are ready to enter a big money battle with both Chelsea and Arsenal for his signature.
While you’d imagine that a deal would be virtually impossible in January with the former Saint-Etienne man vital to Thomas Tuchel’s sides’ fortunes this term, the reports claim Louis van Gaal is keen on testing the German giants’ resolve as early as the New Year.
And lets be honest, United are desperately in need of another striker up top with Wayne Rooney no longer being able to be relied upon to score a haul of 20 and Anthony Martial still learning with the Frenchman often budged out wide nowadays.
In a tight Premier League this term, United like a few others are still there or thereabouts but if they had somebody like Jamie Vardy, scoring at a rate of each weekend, this would give the Red Devils a critical edge on their rivals.
Aubameyang’s signing is an ambitious one but with his price tag set at £42 million, we’ve seen in recent times that big fees don’t scare United one jot.
With this proposed transfer in mind, how would Aubameyang fit into United’s current XI. Here’s how they might look with the Gabonese star included.
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Click on the image below to reveal the dream Manchester United XI including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
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David De Gea
What more can be said about David De Gea that hasn’t been said already.
Entering Old Trafford a boy and now producing hugely convincing performances most weeks in the Premier League, the Spanish international is the first name down on Louis van Gaal’s team-sheet.
Signing a new deal at the start of the season after his proposed transfer to Real Madrid fell through, De Gea will be eyeing silverware this term with the former Atletico Madrid man having only scooped one Premier League title so far in 2012/13…oh and two Community Shields but who counts them?
Matteo Darmian
Appearing 11 times for the Red Devils in the Premier League so far, Matteo Darmian hasn’t blown anybody away with his form but he hasn’t been a car crash signing either.
Doing relatively well on the face of it, we saw the Italian international flourish against England in the 2014 World Cup where he was an attacking threat in tandem with Antonio Candreva down the Three Lions’ left side.
To be honest, we haven’t seen Darmian attack nearly as much in his spell at Old Trafford with the former Torino man much more reserved.
He’ll continue to be rotated with both Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia as the season progresses.
Chris Smalling
One of the great United success stories of recent times, Chris Smalling used to be one of those players who Red Devils fans would roll their eyes at but the former Fulham man has now matured at the right time.
Adding a greater physical edge to his game nowadays, Smalling is rarely bullied off the ball by opposition strikers and has got to be one of Roy Hodgson’s starting centre backs at Euro 2016 for England next summer.
With Phil Jones expected to be his long-term centre back partner at Old Trafford, the former Blackburn Rovers man needs to keep injury free while putting in some of the consistent performances Smalling has in order to convince United fans that he’s up to the job too.
Daley Blind
It’s probably not a ‘dream’ scenario to have Daley Blind filling in at centre back but with Marcos Rojo’s inconsistency and Phil Jones’ proneness to injury, we’re going with the Dutchman who will always do a job wherever he’s deployed.
Having represented United at left back and defensive midfield so far in his Old Trafford career, Blind has played at centre back for the most part this term.
Not disgracing himself in the position either, some United fans feel the team needs some more height at centre back but as far as filling in goes, Blind could be doing a lot worse.
Luke Shaw
At the moment, either Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo or Ashley Young are playing at left back in Luke Shaw’s absence but once the injured England international is back, he’ll usurp all of those names in the position.
Putting in some great form pre-PSV Eindhoven, everybody in the tavern wishes Shaw a speedy recovery although he’ll most definitely miss Euro 2016 now with the likes of Ryan Bertrand and Kieran Gibbs potentially receiving an opportunity they wouldn’t have had otherwise.
A huge £27 million signing of course, there were question marks over his signing after his debut campaign but surely this is going to prove a sound investment long-term if his recovery goes as planned.
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Goals are like buses aren’t they? Nothing for ages and then two at once!
That’s been the case for Bastian Schweinsteiger who got his first United goal at Watford not too long ago, only to follow that up with an equaliser at Leicester City this past weekend.
If Schweinsteiger can become more of a regular source of goals this term, that’ll be fantastic for United because although they can keep them out better than most at the back, scoring has been more of a problem.
With Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial drying up in the goals department, United will rely upon goals from all members of the team to make up for the deficit.
Morgan Schneiderlin
We’ve asked our United supporters in the tavern to rate Schneiderlin’s short Old Trafford career out of 10 so far and the consensus we’ve received is something around the 6.5 to 7 mark.
Everybody knows the French international is capable of doing a bit of everything in the engine room and he’s looked great on a few occasions but on others, he hasn’t blown anybody away either.
We think that if Schneiderlin was proving a hit, he’d be in Louis van Gaal’s starting eleven every week despite the talent they posses in the central midfield area.
However, the former Southampton man is in and out of the team in all honesty. That said, we’re going with him as Schneiderlin’s partner with Michael Carrick now ageing and Ander Herrera very much like Schneiderlin, good one week and average the next.
Juan Mata
Manchester United’s joint second highest goalscorer for the season with five strikes in all competitions, it’s not scintillating form from Juan Mata but he has looked far more consistent than several other Red Devils stars.
With his performance in the away game against Southampton being a standout memory, Mata is a classy playmaker as we all know but deserves huge credit for displaying great form in the right midfield position.
Once upon a time, everybody was screwing that Mata wasn’t being given enough opportunities in his favoured number 10 role but with Wayne Rooney not going to be shifted from that position any time soon, Mata has done well to show good form from a wide area.
He’s also one of the most reliable penalty takers in the Premier League too so he has to be in the team!
Wayne Rooney
Should we be too scared to say it? Wayne Rooney is on the decline?
All the evidence points towards the Red Devils captain losing his mojo this term despite being the club’s top scorer with seven goals in all competitions.
Turning 30-years-old this campaign, we wondered where all the time went but Rooney isn’t scoring enough goals for the club’ plain and simple.
Playing in the number 10 role nowadays, there’s of course a lot more to Rooney’s game than goals alone but he was brought up a striker and still is ultimately, a striker.
With Anthony Martial still learning as well, Rooney needs to be getting more goals on a regular basis in the eyes of most Red Devils supporters.
Anthony Martial
Nobody will be forgetting how Anthony Martial burst onto the scene at Old Trafford with a dream debut goal against arch-rivals Liverpool but it’s been pretty ordinary from the Frenchman of late.
Criticised by Paul Scholes lately for not wanting to score goals enough, even United fans turned on their club legend for these knee-jerk comments.
Still only 19-years-old of course, Martial is still extremely young but is unfortunately being relied upon too much for goals at present.
There is no reason why a club the size of United shouldn’t be doing a Bayern Munich by boasting first choice strikers such as Thomas Muller and Robert Lewandowski while slowly developing Martial on the side like young 19-year-old Kingsley Coman at the Allianz Arena.
Unfortunately Martial’s development has been accelerated and only goals will stop jaws wagging over his immediate contribution.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
And so, the team is headed off by the latest man to be linked with an Old Trafford switch, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
When he joined Borussia Dortmund in 2013, the Gabon international had a one in two goalscoring record with Saint-Etienne and he’s pretty much recreated this form in the Bundesliga with 48 strikes in 80 appearances in the German top flight to date.
With form such as this, you’re going to be hot property on the transfer market and Dortmund have already set their price of £42 million.
While this fee would’ve been scoffed at as ridiculously large a few years back, inflated fees have become more commonplace nowadays, especially with Manchester United and our punters are wondering whether this is a price the Red Devils should pay for somebody who’d more than likely hit the ground running.
