CRYSTAL PALACE’S Aaron Wan–Bissaka broke into their first team partly at the expense of Timothy Fosu Mensah, whom Manchester United had sent on loan to Selhurst Park. The loan wasn’t a success. Fosu Mensah didn’t take instruction from coaches as hoped and Wan –Bissaka, a local boy from the football factory that is Croydon (there are currently 27 Premier League footballers from the area) burst on the scene at the club where he’d been at the academy since the age of 11 in early 2018.
Wan–Bissaka excelled against the best opponents including Mohamed Salah. The 21-year-old right-back is one of the best players in Europe in one- on-one situations. He seldom gets beaten and even if he does he has two or three yards of explosive pace to make a recovery. He has quick feet, he reads movement in front of him well and coaches think he gets down quick. He’s built to be a top full-back.
A quiet and a very pleasant person according to people who know him, he is someone who wants to learn to keep improving. Jose Mourinho was very impressed with how well he played against United in the first half of the game at Selhurst Park in March 2018, but let’s not get carried away.
Analysts whose job it is to scout players for the biggest clubs think that technically he’s far from polished. He’s not a natural crosser, for one, and while there’s an appreciation of his willing to knock the ball forward and try and beat his man, his decision-making needs work. The Londoner is a year older than Trent Alexander Arnold and he’s not the player that the Liverpool full-back is, certainly not going forward, that’s why he’s flown out to Italy to play for England’s under 21s in the European championships and the Scouser is in the full England team.
That hasn’t stopped United, and other clubs, showing interest. United need a right-back, ideally a young one with Premier League experience, but are yet to make a bid. That’s not how the club like to do business. A player’s agent would hold the opposite view, but United don’t want any auction situation. An agent would view it differently. If there’s an auction for a player then it’s a win for the agent and for the selling club who should, in theory, get a higher fee.
WAN-BISSAKA TO SIGN FOR MANCHESTER UNITED – 7/20
United’s Ed Woodward and Palace’s Steve Parish share a close relationship and high level of trust. Transfers can be done in different ways. A buyer can go in early with an offer, but if that happens the selling club can bide their time and hope the price rises. Or buyers can go in late and hope a bid gets accepted by a club which needs to sell. Tellingly, Palace have not been looking for a replacement right-back.
Every Premier League club has money now. It’s far harder, even for giants like United, to sign a player. The days of going to Tottenham Hotspur and taking Michael Carrick or Dimitar Berbatov are gone – unless the player has specifically said they want to leave. Nemanja Matic was very specific that he wanted to play for Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford.
United do have less pulling power now, but if you play for Palace and United come for you that would be hard to ignore. Palace have money, but they’re right on the edge of their Financial Fair Play limits. Their wage bill has risen with each of their six years in the Premier League. There’s not much room for manoeuvre. They also have a huge new main stand to pay for and there hasn’t been complete unity among their different US investors.
If push comes to shove, Palace could cash in for a fee which far exceeds their received fee of £25 million from Everton for Yannick Bolasie.
It’s improbable that Manchester United will announce the signing of Wan–Bissaka while he’s away with England, but he remains in demand, as does Wilfried Zaha, who shares an agent with Wan–Bissaka.
Current right back Diogo Dalot has potential and is rated by the club who signed him, but needs to improve in the one area where Wan–Bissaka is already performing superbly – defending.
United fans are keen for signings, desperate even. Their mood remains despondent after an atrocious end to the season, coupled with success for Liverpool and Manchester City, and new signings will lift that off the floor. The club are looking at several options. They’re more confident of some than others. That’s fine if they come off, but fans are circumspect after the failure of signings last summer.
Just don’t expect the acquisition of Aaron Wan –Bissaka, fine and conscientious young talent that he is, to be done and dusted quickly and easily, if it happens at all.
