Man Utd must bin one of the “future captains” who Solskjaer wanted to sell

It is damning of Manchester United‘s longstanding woes in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era that initial anger has now largely been replaced with apathy, with there having been a growing acceptance that the club merely are where they deserve to be.

Indeed, far too many games in recent times, not least in Ruben Amorim‘s tenure, having been allowed to drift, dropping points against the likes of Everton, West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, repeatedly missing the chance to move into a Champions League spot.

Even just a modicum of competence and drive could have had the Red Devils in the mix at the Premier League summit, had not so many chances gone begging against lower league sides.

INEOS have instilled long-term plans, not least to try and win the league by 2028, but for all this talk of transition and patience, the Old Trafford side simply need to start winning now.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer set to be parachuted in to steady the ship.

Remembering Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s interim spell

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, with a sceptic likely to posit that United should have overlooked Solskjaer’s interim success and still gone for a permanent replacement in the summer of 2019, rather than so hastily dishing out a long-term contract.

Football is, rightly, a game built on emotions, played out on the grass and not in boardrooms. Only a cold-hearted person could not have been swept up in the joy of the Norwegian’s caretaker stint.

Right from the off, the treble winner lifted the cloud that had hung over Old Trafford following Jose Mourinho’s toxic tenure, overseeing a thumping 5-1 thrashing of Cardiff City in his first game in charge – the first of six successive league victories.

Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba were unleashed, breaking out of Mourinho shackles and producing the kind of attacking, entertaining football that supporters had been crying out for.

A first loss came in February at home to Paris Saint-Germain, although a depleted United flipped the Champions League tie on its head at the Parc des Princes, BT Sport commentator Darren Fletcher memorably bellowing “and Solskjaer has won it” as Rashford rifled home the decisive, last-gasp spot-kick.

That night in March still rests as one of the finest moments of the last decade or so, with Solskjaer handed the reins permanently later that month, having lost just one league game at the stage.

The less said about what happened between March and May, the better, as United failed to win any of their last five league games, but the team and the club had been given a much-needed revival – can Solskjaer do the same again?

Man Utd need to sell ‘future captain’ who Solskjaer wanted to replace

With the likes of Rashford and Jadon Sancho currently out on loan, and a raft of other names having departed, Solskjaer would return to an altogether different squad under the new INEOS regime, with only a handful of his former stars still on the books.

Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes – two men who have advocated for his return – still remain, with Maguire having been named as captain just six months after being signed by the Scandinavian, while Fernandes quickly emerged as the team talisman following his own arrival in January 2020.

The club’s longest serving player, Luke Shaw, is also still onboard, as too is fellow full-back Diogo Dalot, a player who might be looking over his shoulder if Solskjaer is named as Amorim’s successor.

It’s fair to say that the Portugal international was never a firm favourite during Solskjaer’s reign, having initially been signed by Mourinho, with the ex-Porto defender making just 36 appearances in all under the Norwegian.

As per reports from The Athletic in 2020, Dalot was not deemed to be in Solskjaer’s plans, with the club having been open to offers for him.

A loan departure to AC Milan soon followed, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka the firm first-choice back in Manchester, although Dalot’s fortunes hardly changed upon his return, memorably enduring a torrid night against Villarreal’s Arnaut Danjuma in September 2021.

To his credit, the right-back outlasted Solskjaer and became a key figure under Erik ten Hag, even winning the Player’s Player of the Year award in 2023/24.

A shift away from Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 set-up may now suit the 26-year-old too, although perhaps the time has come for United’s number two to finally depart, having been a much-maligned figure of recent times.

At one stage a player considered among the club’s “future captains“, as per Samuel Luckhurst, reports last month suggested that INEOS could look to sell him, with his current contract set to expire in 2028.

Having registered just ten goals and 19 assists in 230 games in all for the club, he’s hardly an attacking weapon, while having also been something of a liability defensively, currently ranking in the bottom 32% of his European peers for tackles per 90, as per FBref.

Perhaps Solskjaer was right to have been doubtful of his talents, with it interesting to see how Dalot’s future will play out if the ex-Besiktas boss makes his way back to Old Trafford.

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