Chelsea & Man Utd already know their Chilwell & Shaw left-back upgrade

Tom Weber

• Updated: 8 Mar 2024 19:31 GMT
• 8 min read

Manchester United and Chelsea are keeping tabs on Luca Netz, and for good reason.

The Borussia Mönchengladbach left-back has bounced back after his career appeared to be stagnating prior to this season. The 20-year-old is now a regular starter in the Bundesliga and catching the eye.

It has been revealed that Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea and Newcastle have been scouting him in recent weeks with a view to potentially making a move in the summer. All four could be in the market for a left-back, however, Newcastle are on the verge of triggering their buy-option in Lewis Hall's loan, meaning that they likely won't make a move for Netz.

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As for Arsenal, they could be left without a traditional left-back in the summer. Kieran Tierney looks to be on his way out after his Real Sociedad loan and the Gunners are willing to entertain offers for Oleksandr Zinchenko, as exclusively revealed by FootballTransfers. According to data experts SciSports, Netz would not be an upgrade on the Ukrainian and in Jurrien Timber, Arsenal already have a starting player in that position even though he is a centre-back by trade.

Man Utd and Chelsea need Netz

Netz would, however, be an upgrade on the available options at Chelsea and Man Utd. Though not on the level of players such as Ben Chilwell and Luke Shaw right now given his tender age of 20, SciSports believe that he has the potential to become better than them in the future.

The German is already considered a better player than Chilwell was at his age and, if he fulfils his potential, he could become one of the best left-backs in the world. In terms of upside, SciSports rank Netz sixth among left-backs under the age of 23.

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Intriguingly, the player just above Netz in that ranking is Milos Kerkez, who has been linked with both of these clubs. Obviously, the Bournemouth man can only sign for one of them, so the other would do well to target the Gladbach youngster.

Netz is an attack-minded full-back who has notched five assists in all competitions so far this term for an underperforming Foals side. Indeed, the 20-year-old could already be playing for an elite side had he not had the misfortune of being on the books at two crisis clubs in his still-young career.

The Berlin native's rise coincided with Hertha BSC's time under controversial investor Lars Windhorst, which ended in disaster, and Gladbach have been perennial disappointments since he joined them, though their underperformance has been nowhere near as drastic as Hertha's.

Nevertheless, Netz's development had been stunted prior to this season, with the youngster mostly being used as a substitute. Thankfully for him, Ramy Bensebaini departed for Dortmund in the summer, opening up a spot in Gladbach's side.

Head coach Gerardo Seoane has put his trust in Netz and the left-back could pay back this faith by helping Gladbach turn a massive profit. They only paid €2 million for him in 2021 and he currently boasts an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €13.5m and this number will only increase in the coming months.