How Man Utd would line up with Frenkie de Jong

Karan Tejwani

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:55 CDT
• 3 min read

Manchester United have been linked with a move for Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong, with the Catalan club potentially interested in selling to improve their economic condition.

The Dutchman hasn’t enjoyed the best time at Barcelona, which is why he is considered to be one of the club’s sellable assets, and they could get a big fee for him.

Joining Manchester United would also allow De Jong to reunite with Erik ten Hag, who he worked with at Ajax and played his best football under.

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So if De Jong does go to Manchester United, how will they line-up?

In goal, David de Gea will continue and although Ten Hag would ideally prefer someone better with his feet, there are other problems to solve.

A lot of this team will be determined by Manchester United’s work in the transfer window and it seems likely there will be a new right-back and centre-half incoming.

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For now, however, Diogo Dalot seems to be the preferred choice on the right, and Luke Shaw should make his way back to the team once he is back from injury.

In the middle of defence, captain Harry Maguire should return in place of Victor Lindelof and be paired with Raphael Varane.

Midfield is where most changes will be made, and Manchester United need a defensive midfielder to make the De Jong project work out as planned.

If there isn’t one, then the midfield will have to include himself, Fred and Bruno Fernandes in what is a talented but still unbalanced line.

Up front, the attack will be led by Jadon Sancho and Anthony Elanga on the wings – both of whom have shown their quality this season, and they will support top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo.

A lot of this would change depending on the transfer market: there are at least five positions and players that would ideally be swapped, and getting the best out of De Jong would require getting the right support around him.