Man United's three transfer steps to reboot their midfield

Manchester United have a dismal recent record of signing central midfielders.

In fact, a look down the years, even into the Sir Alex Ferguson era, and the position is a major blot on their copybook. Save for the odd Roy Keane, Michael Carrick or Ander Herrera, it has been a genuinely problematic position.

Famous flops include Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and, more recently, the disastrous pairing of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin. But Fergie also had a strange habit of converting otherwise promising forward players (Alan Smith and David Bellion) into middling central midfielders.

And then there was Juan Sebastian Veron, the world class player who struggled at Old Trafford for reasons nobody could quite pinpoint.

Most will argue rightly that it's difficult to find players who can hold a candle to Keane, Paul Scholes et al.

And perhaps it's unfair to compare Fred to Djemba-Djemba, given the Brazilian still has a chance to turn his United fortunes around — even if patience is wearing thin.

So United must get things right in the next stage of their transfer rebuild, which simply must zero in on the midfield. That they didn't replace Herrera last summer was baffling in itself, so too the fact that Sean Longstaff (who then had nine Premier League appearances to his name) was a top target.

But those mistakes are in the past and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insists he and Ed Woodward "have a plan".

The midfield search, then, must be thorough. It must prioritise two nuances of the position, which both seriously require attention and it must accept that Paul Pogba's future is tied into the whole issue.

Unless we witness a miraculous flip-flop from Pogba and his agent Mino Raiola, the Frenchman will likely leave United next summer. For all Solskjaer's insistence that the player is happy with United, and United are happy with the player — "Paul is part of our plan" — the club wouldn't be doing their due diligence if they blindly ignored the obvious. Real Madrid will surely come calling again.

In any case, selling Pogba could be the first step on the renewal of United's midfield.

The second would be to buy a direct replacement, whether that be the forever-linked Bruno Fernandes, the seemingly declining Christian Eriksen or the up and coming James Maddison — or another attacking midfield target out of left field, providing United's scouts have done their work to find the right candidate.

A like-for-like replacement for Pogba in terms of the finances involved and the player's style, would make sense and potentially breathe new life into United's midfield. There has long been the sense that Pogba under-performs too often.

The hope would be then that Scott McTominay continues on his recent upward trajectory and that Fred shows some kind of improvement. Nemanja Matic's contract is up in the summer and he will surely move on.

So the third and final step would be to solve that defensive midfield dilemma that has plagued United since Carrick's form started to wane.

A player like Wilfried Ndidi, someone with Premier League experience but young enough to develop — a different profile of signing to that of Matic in 2017 — would be perfect. A true defensive midfield general.

One major sale and two major buys. It's hardly rocket science, but providing the football side of things in the United machine is working coherently, it should finally reboot the club's midfield in a way that's not been seen in years.

Woodward was at pains to indicate how the club is jam-packed with people who are experts in their field.

“There is a myth that we have non-football people making football decisions, and I think it's insulting to the brilliant people who work on the football side in this club," he said in his latest statement.

"We've expanded our recruitment department in recent years and we believe this now runs in an efficient and productive way."

United's transfer signings in recent years suggest this expertise, while it exists, simply hasn't come to fruition. There is no area more crucial than the midfield now and it's where United's staff have to prove capable of setting the rebuild wheels in motion.