Manchester United target Ezequiel Garay impressed for Benfica against Tottenham (Picture: Getty Images)

Ezequiel Garay’s performance against Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League reminded everyone why Manchester united are so keen on Benfica’s central defender.

The Argentine has been linked with a summer move to Old Trafford, and was once again very impressive in Benfica’s comfortable 3-1 win at Spurs.

An experienced centre half, Garay showed a calmness on the ball and his adaptability by slotting into a number of different roles over the 90 minutes.

Garay kick-started a number of Benfica’s attacking moves from the back and reminded me of Rio Ferdinand in his prime. This is obviously something which interests United with Rio expected to leave the club in the summer.




There are several very defensive minded players at the club, such as Chris Smalling and Jonny Evans, who seem to genuinely enjoy the art of defending but neither of those have the ability to play out from the back like Ferdinand has done for the past decade.

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David Moyes is looking for a new centre-back (Picture: Getty Images)

Another noticeable feature of Garay’s display in London on Thursday was his calming presence.

Whilst Luisao was the obvious leader of the team, Garay did tend to take charge of his zone and guide Guilherme Siqueira through defensive aspects with the former Granada wing-back more adept in going forward.

Garay told Siqueira where he needed to be and when to drop back a couple of. He was a calming influence on the whole back four and this is something which United have lacked at the back for the past two seasons.

Garay was a key component in Benfica’s ability to press quickly as a unit with a real continental style, something which David Moyes has tried to encourage at Manchester United this year.

If Garay can be brought to the club and add that level of quick thinking and nous for when to press forward to United’s back four we may well see a far more forward thinking team defensively next season.

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