Since the final whistle blew at the end of a torrid afternoon at Old Trafford on the 12th of May, an afternoon in which United slumped to a 2-0 defeat against the already doomed Cardiff, over 60 names have been associated with the, seemingly imminent, rebuild being orchestrated by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The most movement on a high profile name, however, is seeming to be made on the attempt to bring 21 year old Crystal Palace Right-Back Aaron Wan Bissaka to the club. In this article, I’ll break down the England U21 international’s ability, and the impact he would have should he complete a move to Old Trafford.

First, I think it’s key we establish what kind of player Wan-Bissaka is, as United sides of old commonly featured attack minded Full-Backs, whose ability to get down the flank and put in a cross usually outweighed that of their defensive capabilities. This definitely isn’t the case when it comes to Wan-Bissaka. His game is very reliant on his ability to defend against wingers one-on-one, proven by his incredibly impressive 129 tackles in the Premier League in the past season. To put this into perspective, he ranks 3rd amongst all players for the season, only trailing to the Ball-Winning Midfield duo of Idrissa Gana Gueye and Wilfred Ndidi. A perfect example of his defensive capabilities were demonstrated in his performance at the Etihad back in December, when he constantly pitted himself head-to-head with the talented Leroy Sané, whom he kept very quiet throughout the course of the game. In that game, it was very clear to see his immense ability of reading the game and being able to sniff out danger, with the young defender completing 5 tackles against Pep Guardiola’s side, the joint-most of all players on the pitch. When rewatching the game you can clearly see his physical capabilities, as well, with Sané commonly being barged up against the byline and ushered away from causing any problems for the Palace defence. Wan-Bissaka’s persistent reluctance to dive in, or compromise his own defensive positioning, limited Sané to just 2 successful dribbles. The German winger also attempted to use his pace in order to threaten, but was matched by Wan-Bissaka in that regard.

Another great example of the defenders ability to defend one-on-one against a quick winger was seen at Craven Cottage last season, when fellow countryman Ryan Sessegnon continuously struggled to abuse his athleticism. This can be shown in the images below, sourced from an article from Total Football Analysis, in which Fulham try to play to the strengths of Sessegnon with a ball over the top, with Wan-Bissaka reading the game and using his pace to stop the attacking intentions of the teenage winger.

When it comes to the aforementioned athleticism of the Full-Back, it’s hard to ignore his lanky build, with his 6’0 height aided by his long legs. It’s proven that this build helps him with his defensive efforts, with his 84 interceptions ranking 2nd in the Premier League in the previous campaign, and his aerial ability something that sets him apart from some of the leagues quicker Full-Backs.

The side of the game that Wan-Bissaka comes under most criticism for is his attacking capabilities, with his indecisive nature going forward prompting questions over his all-round game as a Full-Back. This, however, is something of at least an exaggeration, if not verging on a myth. Wan-Bissaka is less traditional going forward in that he commonly cuts inside to operate in central areas, rather than looking to take on opposition players. This is quite surprising, considering he was converted from a Right-Winger into a Right-Back at U23 level, and that he’s right footed. This is something that he has mentioned does favour him defensively though, saying to The Guardian in an interview that his past as a winger gives him an “Innate sense of what the opponent is thinking”. This more central role that Wan-Bissaka takes up when going forward is massively reflected in his attacking statistics, with his 56 campaign crosses ranking him an incredibly measly 76th in the league, and his 21% accuracy from the deliveries putting him alongside the massively underwhelming crossing stats put up by current United Right-Back Ashley Young. His indecisive nature is also reflected in his key passes per game statistic, which ended the season at 0.4, ranking him just 184th in the league. However, despite his final ball being something that obviously needs work, his overall attacking game is actually somewhat impressive, with the 21 year old racking up 1.7 dribbles per game, which ranks him 13th amongst all players in the league, and only 2nd to Ricardo Pereira when it comes to recognised Full-Backs.

Despite his drawbacks as a more offensive Full-Back, they shouldn’t compromise how he would fit in at Old Trafford, should he make the move up to Sir Matt Busby Way. This is due to the more attacking mentality adopted by Luke Shaw on the opposite United flank, which points to a more conservative figure being needed at the Right-Back spot. This is a role that Wan-Bissaka would perfectly fit into, with his previously mentioned dribbling ability being something that could come in handy from time to time. This is something that United have lacked for years in the Right-Back spot, with the horrific seasons endured by the likes of Ashley Young in previous years providing an SOS for someone young and fresh to come in and sure up the defence. With regards to how Wan-Bissaka will fit in at United system wise, it’s extremely hard to tell, with a summer haul still in progress, and an inexperienced manager at the helm, but it would point to a 4-3-3 in which Wan-Bissaka would play on the opposite side to Paul Pogba who would operate on the left side of a midfield trio. This would avoid problems of positional clashing in central areas, which have been seen in the past with Pogba and teammates such as Alexis Sanchez. Instead, Wan-Bissaka would probably be alongside the more offensive minded Bruno Fernandes, who has been persistently linked with a move to United from Sporting Lisbon. This would allow the former to provide cover, as well as avoid operating in similar areas to the Portuguese international in the middle of the park.

Whether or not the talented Full-back completes his big money move remains to be seen, but what is for sure is the quality of player United would be getting should the transfer materialise, and one of many gaps being plugged in the, currently shambolic, starting eleven.