Manchester United fans have been pining for a permanent solution at right-back for years. It’s an issue that Jose Mourinho hasn’t been able to fix fully, yet…
Antonio Valencia was the makeshift option last term, and more recently, Ashley Young has made the role his own. Many thought that Young got the job due to an injury suffered by his Ecuadorian counterpart, however, Valencia himself has confirmed that’s not the case…
The 33-year-old has confirmed that he was in fact dropped, losing his place as a ‘tactical decision’ rather than it being due to spending time on the treatment table.
‘Right now I haven’t been playing, but it’s more of a tactical decision,’ he told Area Deportiva, an Ecuadorian publication.
‘The player who has been in my place (Young) has been playing well. You have to respect the decision.’
As Gary Neville famously once said, ‘ it’s like choosing between which one of your mates will sleep with your wife’. Both Valencia and Young just aren’t good enough to be playing at right-back, but they’re the best options we have.
I find it damning that a club of United’s stature haven’t found the long-term solution in such a key area of the field. Sure, Diogo Dalot may well turn out to be a superstar, but he’s a project, it could take a few years until the young man from Portugal is ready…
For now, though, it looks like we’re sticking with the old guard.
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