Home » Why Erik Ten Hag must keep hold of valuable Victor Lindelof

Why Erik Ten Hag must keep hold of valuable Victor Lindelof

by Adam Leadbeater

Whilst he is highly unlikely to be part of Erik Ten Hag’s first choice centre-back pairing, injuries and circumstance have once again highlighted the value of Victor Lindelof to Manchester United.

Lindelof arrived in Manchester during the summer of 2017 towards the end of Jose Mourinho’s debut season.

The Portuguese manager’s fifth United signing arrived with great anticipation as the Red Devils handed Benfica €35 million for the then 22-year old Swede.

He was initially touted as your fairly typical Mourinho-esque defender, reasonably physical and agile whilst being capable of quick decision making.

However, life at Old Trafford began slowly for Lindelof. Despite the widespread belief he would create a formidable partnership with Eric Baily, his playing time was instead restricted.

During his first season, the Swedish international made just 17 appearances and started a total of 13 times. Mourinho seemed to favour Chris Smalling and Phil Jones as his first choice centre-back pairing.

Across the five seasons that followed, Lindelof found relative consistency, playing on average around 40 games each campaign. Yet with the arrival of Raphael Varane from Real Madrid and the addition of Lisandro Martinez, the Swede has often been demoted to the bench.

But with long term injuries to both Martinez and Varane in recent weeks, alongside continued questions over Harry Maguire’s reliability, Erik Ten Hag has thrust Lindelof back into the first team to partner makeshift centre back, Luke Shaw.

Lindelof’s recent performances have been encouraging in a team whose form has been rather more shaky lately. His winning strike in the shootout vs Brighton, a precise penalty that sent United back to Wembley for an FA Cup Final, served as a reminder of the Swede’s obvious technical ability.

Carl Anka from The Athletic suggests that whilst Lindelof is unlikely to be one of the central defenders Erik Ten Hag is looking to build his Old Trafford dynasty around, he still holds great value within a squad seemingly still in transition.

He is an ever present who is rarely unavailable due to injury. In fact, Lindelof has only been absent 19 times across six entire campaigns.

The Swede is good on the ball. He has adequate control along with speed of thought to read the game well and make incisive passes through the lines.

Lindelof is not afraid to speak up from time to time. He is regularly seen constructively hollering at teammates and giving positional advice with a sharp point of the finger.

Yet he is not without fault or weakness. Lindelof’s physicality has been questioned when pitted against some of the more burly Premier League forwards and his pace sometimes found wanting.

Moving forward he should expect to once again assume the role of dependable squad player. Summer transfer rumours are already swirling around Old Trafford, including some that claim a centre back is high on Ten Hag’s shopping list.

Coupled with Martinez and Varane’s inevitable return, Lindelof will already be anticipating a descent down the pecking order for the foreseeable future.

But the question remains. Should Ten Hag start him ahead of Harry Maguire?

Lindelof has definitely proved more consistent than the Englishman and is far less error-prone for sure. There is sometimes a strange feeling of bias towards Maguire across not only Ten Hag’s reign, but one that stretches back to the days of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer too. Perhaps the weight behind club captaincy or even his £80 million price tag can become a factor in his selection.

Yet it’s a no-brainer. Lindelof is the safer pair of hands by far. The Swede is more versatile and reliable, especially when under pressure. Which for Manchester United players in particular is a never-ending entity.

Maguire on the other hand might just be heading for the exit this summer and strengthen Lindelof’s position even further.

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