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Manchester United are currently operating without a specialist left-back with Lisandro Martinez being the latest to play in that position in the win over Brentford last weekend.
Right-back Diogo Dalot has started the majority of the games in that position while young academy midfielder Toby Collyer was asked to fill in there in the Carabao Cup.
It is certainly a position that is vexing Erik ten Hag with Tyrell Malacia not quite ready to return after more than a year away from the game while Luke Shaw’s perennial injury problems show no signs of slowing down.
INEOS failed to sign a replacement in the summer and all signs point towards the left-back position being reinforced either in January or next summer.
LB needed at United
Plenty of Premier League talents are being eyed along with Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies but the solution could come from within the United academy, albeit with the talent no longer being at the club.
It was quite the surprise to see Ten Hag sanction the departure of the young Spaniard Alvaro Fernandez Carreras last season despite United’s apparent problems at left back.
The 21-year-old had shone for United’s academy teams as well as during his loan spell in the Championship and it seemed like a matter of time before his chance in the first team would arrive.
Instead, he moved to Benfica and Fernandez has starred there and this season, he has played in all games thus far and has been one of the standout performers for the Portuguese giants.
As with many deals recently, the Red Devils included a buyback clause in their sale to Benfica and Ten Hag spoke eloquently about the former academy graduate and how he has been keeping a close watch on his development.
Alvaro Fernandez in the spotlight
All of this hints towards a potential future move but lots of other clubs are also circling including Liverpool and Real Madrid and the 20-time English league champions will not find it easy to re-sign their former star.
When asked about Ten Hag’s comments, the Spain U21 international clearly mentioned that he is completely focussed on the job at hand at his current club and is not looking too far ahead.
“I only think about Benfica. I’m only focused here. I’ll try to keep up the same level, try to help the team as much as possible. I’m just another player on the team,” he was quoted as saying by Record.
Fernandez was singled out for criticism after Benfica’s Champions League defeat at the hands of Feyenoord and it clearly shows he is still young and has a lot of improvement to do if he is to earn a move back to the Theatre of Dreams.
Feature image Carlos Rodrigues via Getty Images
