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AXEL TUANZEBE has been talked about at Manchester United for a long time, but injuries have hampered his progress.
After his loan to Aston Villa, helping them move up to the Premier League, he seemed ready to move on, but with a hamstring injury in December 2019.
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But as he demonstrated in his spectacular return to Paris Saint-Germain, dealing with the pace of Kylian Mbappé and Neymar, the beauty of what he brings is that he is a center-back who does not seem isolated in wide areas.
And with this United team looking more comfortable playing with three on their back rather than four, the 22-year-old could prove a vital gear for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
At the other end of the field, boss Solskjaer has a group of front-line players who like to play central, whether it’s cutting from the wings like Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood or running from deep like Bruno Fernandes.
Arguably the reason they win so many penalties, because their attacking players are entering the area at high speed.
So its only real width comes from the backs.
And to make sure they deliver enough offensive intention without worrying about 70-yard runs to defend, you need three at the back.
In the PSG game they had just that, with two wide center-backs in Tuanzebe and Luke Shaw, who felt comfortable being out of the 18-yard box and acting as additional protection if they fumbled higher up the field.
One of United’s biggest problems when playing 4-2-3-1 is that they have two center-backs in Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof who don’t feel as comfortable on the wing and are vulnerable to counterattack from the sides, as shown in their 6 -1 win for Tottenham.
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With three at the back, that counterattack can be nullified, with three defenders plus a midfielder staying behind, while the wingers have the freedom to move forward and create width.
It’s a system they should stick to when Chelsea visit Old Trafford today.
Frank Lampard’s team will probably have more ball.
But we’ve seen of late United are comfortable with less ball but attacking in numbers at half-time, beating players like Leicester, Manchester City and Tottenham in that way last season.
United do not have a central pair like Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic or John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho, so they have to compensate with three at the rear.
This may finally be the break Tuanzebe has been waiting for since emerging as a United prospect five years ago.
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