Manchester United are actively searching for a long-term replacement for Casemiro and as The Sun, the Red Devils are looking at Ross Barkley.
Casemiro was tremendous for United last season but the Brazilian international has seen a major dip in form this campaign. Poor form clubbed with injuries has forced him to play in only 13 Premier League games so far and his performances have not been that of a five-time Champions League winner.
Manchester United are planning to get rid of him in the summer so a new central midfielder is on the club’s agenda and Ross Barkley seems to be the latest addition to Ten Hag’s wishlist.
Are Man United serious about signing Ross Barkley?
Ross Barkley was a top talent during his Everton days but since joining Chelsea in 2018, his career graph has mostly seen a downward slide. For Chelsea, he played only 100 games in four and a half seasons and last summer, he joined Luton Town on a free transfer from Nice.
This season, the England international has finally gotten a hold of his career and in 20 Premier League games, Ross Barkley has scored three and assisted three goals for Luton.
He has a passing accuracy of 84% and has an xA of 2.08. He’s won around 56% of his duels, made 16 blocks and has been dispossessed only 26 times in 1607 minutes of league football.
There’s no doubt Ross Barkley has been a top performer for Luton Town this season but there’s no way he can replace Casemiro at Manchester United.
It makes no sense to replace a 32-year-old with a 30-year-old and that to a player who’s only had two good seasons in his previous eight campaigns. It would be much more practical to hold onto the ex-Madrid man for one more season than to put faith in Barkley.
Ross Barkley will obviously be tempted to join Man United because that’s a step up for him but Erik ten Hag should be looking at someone like Amadou Onana as Kobbie Mainoo’s partner for the subsequent season.
Barkley is valued at only €7 million so he is going to be a very cheap buy but Man United should only go for him if they want to sign a backup midfielder. Along with Casemiro, Ten Hag is also going to let go of McTominay, Eriksen and Amrabat which means he will have to bring in more than one central midfielder.
If Ross Barkley is signed as a benchwarmer who is going to play in the fringe matches then it makes sense otherwise this is just going to be another disaster waiting to happen.
Stats courtesy Squawka
