Manchester United needing a defensive midfielder in recent years has been the worst kept secret in the game - even more so after the departure of 33-year-old Nemanja Matic as a free agent. This is a position the club needs to address this summer.
As of now, only one thing is clear regarding the club's stance on the situation; according to Laurie Whitwell of the Athletic, the club wants to sign two midfielders before completing other deals. It isn’t a surprise after the club also parted ways with their most expensive player, Paul Pogba, allowing him to leave for free after he refused to sign a new contract.
The one clear target the club has is Erik ten Hag's former player Frenkie de Jong. The other midfield target is yet to be unveiled, but it is not tough to have a guess at which players the club are considering due the team's woes defensively. The club will most likely target either a second phase midfielder or a typical holding midfielder.
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Manchester United's dream signing would've likely been the West Ham captain Declan Rice, but they were priced out of the deal after the Irons insisted that they won't sell him for anything less than £100 million.
Therefore, the club need to find an alternative; and there isn’t any one player better than Hoffenheim's versatile midfielder Florian Grillitsch. The 26-year-old Austrian holding midfielder can play multiple positions - but what makes signing him a priority beyond his capabilities is he is also out of contract next month, meaning there is no hefty transfer fee to pay should United want to acquire his services.
The player has been linked with Italian club Fiorentina, however if Manchester United were to register their interest with the player, Grllitsch would likely think twice about the Red Devil's offer.
His main strengths are distribution, progressive carrying, progressive passing, leading ability, winning of aerial and ground duels, spacial awareness, occupation of decisive spaces, calmness under pressure and tactical fouls to stop opposition's attacking transitions.
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In this crazy transfer window, where defensive midfielders’ prices are being quoted at over £100m, it's only smart to consider other such players on the market.
This season’s numbers
He attempts 61.60 passes per 90, and completes 55.35 of these, meaning he completes an impressive total of 89.8% of his passes. To elaborate this further, he attempts 15.88 long passes with a success rate of 85.6%, which is superb.
His verticality is also impressive for a player of his calibre. Last season, he made 5.66 key passes into the final third and 0.72 key passes per game, numbers which are better than even some attacking midfielders. He makes 8.96 (98%) passes under pressure, 0.12 through balls, and 2.65 switches per 90 minutes.
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He averaged 46.68 ball carries per game with 4.45 being classed as progressive.
When analysing the defensive side of his game, he makes 2.47 tackles per 90 minutes, winning 1.62 of them.
His most successful tackle rate comes in the middle of the park (1.32) and defensive third. He intercepts 2.41 balls per game, which is nice and crucial but, what impresses even more is his application of pressure in the attacking and middle thirds (6.98), which shows us how high his work rate is and his desire to lead his team to play in the opposition's half.
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His pass received numbers might be low, but that doesn't mean he is a player who is shy from the ball.
As shown above, he drops deep to receive the ball when his team starts the build up. This allows Grillitsch to stretch his two centre-backs and slot in as a third defender, before facilitating the game using his disguised, incisive and great passing ability.
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One of his main attributes is his leading ability. He is very vocal and leads both by example and by instruction, for example reminding his teammates to start a press, close a passing lane or engage in duels.
Grillitsch also has a great ability to read and predict the flow of a game. As shown in the above example, he commits a sensible tactical foul by jumping from his line after sensing a danger, before dropping deep to help in the build up to save his team from getting destroyed in transition in a matter of seconds.
He might not be our main target but signing, however Manchester United signing Grillitsch is fairly low-risk, and it could also help the club solve their midfield issues.
He will turn 27 in August, which allows him to become a short to medium term solution for free.
He would definitely be a smart recruitment for any team looking to bolster their midfield options on a limited budget this summer.
Topics: Manchester United, Hoffenheim, Erik Ten Hag
Natnael Manaye