Man United’s centre-back crisis highlights fragility of entire squad

Bad in practice

Now, however, the picture is dramatically different. After a run of poor form Yoro has been sidelined through injury, joining long-term absentee De Ligt in the treatment room.

So long-term are Dutchman’s issue that his viability as any kind of first-team option is in doubt even when he makes a return.

Martinez, currently suspended for a harsh red card against Leeds United, also has a question mark of fitness hanging over him, and also has been sporadically bad during his stop-start season.

Maguire has had arguably his best season to date and misses the Chelsea game through suspension, but at 33 is not a figure for the future. Heaven, who most certainly is, has been handed just 15 minutes of football by Michael Carrick after eight consecutive starts in Amorim’s ever-shifting back three.

The reality

So that shakes down as an unsettlingly shaky youngster currently injured, a veteran whose failure to control his temper has left his team in hot water through suspension, two serial crocks and a teenager starved of gametime.

Some of these situations will resolve themselves sooner than others, but the idea that United’s central defence was taken care of suddenly looks ridiculous.

Yoro needs more time to bed in but must soon start justifying his hefty price tag, and Maguire’s new deal commits him to the club for at least another year, but Martinez and De Ligt are now serious concerns. Heaven is still raw, his excellent potential not enough to make him a figurehead.

Wider issue

United’s centre-back crisis speaks to a much wider issue – that the squad is threadbare pretty much everywhere. Apply a similar level of injury and suspension to any other position and the outcome would be even worse.

That’s not to say the damage is irreparable, as none of the positives offered by the group have entirely disappeared, but it’s shifted suddenly from an area of comfort to a position which quite possibly will now require investment this summer.

The upcoming transfer window is monumentally important for delivering a lasting solution to the barren midfield and for improving options out wide. The abrupt disintegration of United’s central defence threatens to undermine these crucial areas of recruitment by taking up valuable time and funds, stretching already spartan resources to breaking point.

These players can be good enough but need to shape up and shape up fast, or next season could be over before it’s begun.

Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images

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