da luck： Thiago Alcantara is arguably the world’s best midfielder. From the heir to Xavi’s throne at Barcelona to Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti’s wonder at Bayern Munich, the Spaniard has proven himself to be an immense passer, smooth dribbler and widely versatile midfielder.
da bwin： Still only 25 years old and having had to overcome some serious injuries, Thiago is already a member of the footballing elite. Used as a No.6, No.8 and occasionally as a No.10 at Bayern, the Spaniard is a player any club would be extremely lucky to have. Even with the risk of future injuries, the La Masia graduate is only going to improve and potentially to become one of the best in a generation.
The haunting flashback for Manchester United is that Thiago was reportedly a significant target for the club in the summer that he moved to Bavaria. A Manchester United, that is, that have needed midfield reinforcements since Paul Scholes’ first retirement. Anderson, Marouane Fellaini and others have had a go at strengthening the Red Devils’ middle third, but they are yet to properly address their glaring weakness.
Ander Herrera was brought in and can be a useful player to have around, but the continued reliance on a veteran Michael Carrick reflects years of dire midfield investment. Paul Pogba takes the headlines – and will eventually prove to be well worth his enormous transfer fee – yet even he does not answer the weakness alone.
The squad has been in disrepair for several years, with some of those persistent troubles beginning to be answered. The failure to bring Thiago to the club was a sign of things to come for United, as transfer targets were either misguided or not signed. That has changed under the stewardship of Jose Mourinho with the four signings last summer, yet even the once self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ did not address the longest running weakness in central midfield.
David Moyes and Louis van Gaal suffered, as Mourinho has, with the team’s shortage of central midfield options. Herrera has been used as the deepest midfielder, Fellaini has played as a box-to-box and an attacking midfielder, Wayne Rooney has been slotted into various roles with little success and now Pogba is left in an unbalanced side without a defined role. Thiago would have been the man to balance the midfield, whether used as a deep-lying playmaker or alongside Pogba in a midfield three, the Spaniard was the perfect signing for a Manchester United squad reeling since the days of Carrick, Scholes and Fletcher.
His move to Bayern may have been inevitable, but the elongated transfer saga emphasised the ineptitude of Manchester United’s transfers post-Ferguson. The midfield has suffered more than the defence or attack as a result of some bizarre recruitment ongoings, now the club are left with a dreaded feeling of ‘what if’ whenever they see the brilliance of Thiago at the Allianz.