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Jadon Sancho would be a good signing for Manchester United but would still not help fix the club’s biggest weakness, according to John Barnes. United are trying to finally get a deal over the line for the Borussia Dortmund winger this summer, yet Barnes feels they have more pressing needs.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have pursued Sancho for some time and came close to signing the 21-year-old last summer, only for Dortmund to hold firm on their £103million (€120m) valuation.
United appear to be making progress this time around, with the German club now willing to negotiate over the England winger’s exit.
Although the club reportedly had a £70m (€78m) bid rejected by Dortmund recently, they are confident they will land a player who picked up 16 goals and 14 assists in 38 appearances last season.
Signing Sancho would undoubtedly be a major boost for United as they try to close the gap in the Premier League to Manchester City in 2021/22, but Barnes believes his arrival could just paper over the cracks that lie elsewhere.
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“They’ll still be inconsistent,” the former Liverpool winger told BettingExpert.
“Manchester United’s problem hasn’t been their attacking play and scoring goals: they’ve got [Edinson] Cavani, [Mason] Greenwood, [Anthony] Martial, [Marcus] Rashford, [Bruno] Fernandes and [Paul] Pogba, they’re all good attackers.
“Sancho will add to that, but their problem is that they’ve not been consistent enough and they’ve conceded goals and lost matches because they’re not strong enough defensively.
“It’ll be a good signing for them – a young English player which is what you want in the squad. But I don’t think it will make them challengers.
“They’ll be in the top four but they’re not consistent enough and they haven’t got the right balance between attack and defence to compete with Manchester City or Liverpool.
“You have to take signings when you can get them. As much as you can say, ‘let’s not buy Sancho and get a centre-back’, if you don’t sign a centre-back you’ve missed the chance to get a really good player.
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“They will be looking at that situation. [Victor] Lindelof has done okay, but Harry Maguire with a solid centre-back alongside him would make Manchester United much more consistent and more solid.”
As well as Sancho, United are in the market for a centre-back to partner Maguire next season.
Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane is reportedly their number one target, but United face competition from Paris Saint-Germain for his signature.
Solskjaer’s side have also been linked with Villarreal’s Pau Torres, Sevilla’s Jules Kounde and Atalanta’s Cristian Romero.
Their first transfer of the summer is expected to be made official soon, with goalkeeper Tom Heaton joining on a two-year contract as back-up to David de Gea and Dean Henderson.
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