Should Manchester United sign Bayer Leverkusen’s Leon Bailey?

Stefan Bienkowski

• Updated: 19 May 2021 17:09 BST
• 3 min read

After crashing out of the Champions League and a dismal domestic campaign in the Premier League, Manchester United will undoubtedly need to invest in their squad in the January transfer window. 

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad are most likely one of the most expensively assembled in world football at the moment, but if the English club are going to stick with their under-pressure manager they’ll need to put their money where their mouth is and give him the resources to build a team that can get back to the top of the English top flight. 

As such, United have been linked with a number of top players from across Europe. Yet one of the most intriguing – and enduring – rumours is that of Bayer Leverkusen winger Leon Bailey and his seemingly inevitable move to Old Trafford. 

But would the Bundesliga forward be a good signing for Solskjaer’s team and would he be the kind of January transfer signing that could turn the club’s season around? 

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What makes Bailey so good?

Since signing from Genk in 2017, Bailey has proved to be an exceptionally useful wide player in the way he can score and create goals from his teammates with relative ease in the Bundesliga. 

Although the Jamaican international can play on the left and right wing, he did seem to struggle last season when he was forced out left to accommodate Kai Havertz and as such his stats did take a bit of a tumble. 

However, Bailey is back on the right flank for Leverkusen this season and as we can see from the table above, he’s currently scoring and creating more assists per game than he ever has at the Bundesliga side. 

For Man United, Bailey would be a wide player that would be relied upon to cut inside and score goals from distance and with late runs into the box or as a more traditional winger that can get balls into the box. 

Do Manchester United need him?

One of the most bizarre aspects of Man Utd’s long-term interest in Bailey is that the position the Jamaican currently plays at Leverkusen is one that is relatively well stocked at Old Trafford. 

Not only does Solskjaer have Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial on either wing most weeks doing perfectly well for him, but he also has Daniel James and Mason Greenwood on the bench and ready to prove their worth in most games. 

In fact, United have so many options out wide that they’ve struggled to offer any game time to Jesse Lingard this season. Which may end up forcing the England international to leave the club in January on a loan move. 

So, in truth, it’s hard to see where Bailey would fit into United’s squad and make a considerable difference to the team, unless the club were planning on offloading Martial, James or even Greenwood in the near future.