Tuesday 30 June 2015 16:57, UK
Sergio Ramos is world class but would he be the final piece in Man Utd’s defensive jigsaw? Adam Bate asks the question...
Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas did it at Chelsea last season. There are others convinced that Petr Cech could fulfil a similar role at Arsenal this summer. It’s that one signing in precisely the position it’s needed that immediately inspires confidence that a club’s fortunes will be drastically improved.
The situation at Manchester United is somewhat more muddled. First and foremost, the club is some way short of acquiring the services of Sergio Ramos and there remains the nagging suspicion that the dalliance will conclude in the defender signing a new contract at Real Madrid.
These reports saying £40million plus David de Gea for Sergio Ramos. Please no! Nothing [against] Ramos but it can’t be right.
But the reservations extend beyond the fear of being played for fools. “These reports saying £40million plus David de Gea for Sergio Ramos,” wrote Sky Sports pundit and former Manchester United player Gary Neville on Twitter. “Please no! Nothing [against] Ramos but it can’t be right.”
Notwithstanding the esteem in which De Gea is regarded at Old Trafford, it’s still quite the reaction to being linked with one of the world’s best defenders. As fellow Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher pointed out this week, there are few better.
“He is rash at times, he has moments of madness and does get overly emotional in games, that’s always been a problem for him,” Carragher told talkSPORT. “But if he is not rated as one of the world’s best players, who is?” It’s a fair point. Ramos has won it all.
Jose Mourinho had his issues with the defender at the Bernabeu, but even he had words of praise too. “When Sergio is at his best, he gives me all that a defender has to give – security in defence, quality bringing the ball out, strengths and set pieces, leadership.”
But Neville’s concern also reflects the feeling that United would be paying good money only to lose a world-class goalkeeper and still find themselves some way short of solving their defensive issues. After all, it’s a big ask for the Spaniard to solve those problems without help.
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Although only three clubs conceded fewer Premier League goals than United in 2014/15, that headline statistic felt generous. Louis van Gaal’s men kept fewer clean sheets than Sunderland let alone their title rivals and some of the underlying data hinted at the insecurities that were evident.
Van Gaal’s United made more unpunished errors leading to shots than any other Premier League team. Only Burnley were punished from a lower percentage of their mistakes. Luck? No. David de Gea. Without their goalkeeper, that defence would need to get a lot better and Van Gaal knows it.
Ramos would help. Not only does he win more aerial duels and come up with blocks more frequently than any United defender, importantly, he also knows how to function in a defence that is not afforded much protection.
That’s significant. John Terry was surely the best defender in the Premier League last season. But the former England captain is at his best when defending deep in a low block with covering midfielders aplenty. Van Gaal has a different vision.
Ramos is an exceptional one-on-one defender and would allow United to play on the front foot as Van Gaal prefers, pushing up to the halfway line with confidence. It is difficult, for example, to envisage Jamie Vardy being allowed to run amok as he did at the King Power Stadium last autumn.
Ramos, who turns 30 in March, has a range of passing that would surely interest United’s forwards too. But while being asked to adapt to the Premier League, would he really be the man to settle down a United defence featuring the likes of Luke Shaw, Phil Jones, Antonio Valencia among others?
Ramos is a leader but, to provide context, it was Pepe, so often characterised as rash, who Marca credited as “restoring a sense of calm” in Real’s defence – a “big brother” to Raphael Varane. When Carlo Ancelotti needed a midfielder, he pushed Ramos up and kept Pepe at the heart of his defence.
Perhaps that offers just a hint of why this mooted signing will not be seen as a panacea for United’s issues. There are few better, as Carragher points out. But it’s not difficult to see why Neville would regard any potential swap deal for De Gea as a move that creates as many problems as it solves.
There are those signings that transform a team and convince supporters that the club is nearly there in its transfer tinkering. Fabregas was one. Cech might yet be another. But Van Gaal will need a few more like Ramos before there’s any conviction that United have solved their problems of 2014/15.
