Manchester United would be getting dynamism, energy and bravery from Saul Niguez if they sign the Atletico Madrid player at the end of the season.
The player who scored the first goal in Luis Enrique’s first reign as Spain coach – in a 2-1 win over England in 2018 – is likely to be one of the cornerstones of the side the returning coach takes into the Euros next summer.
Enrique believes Saul is at his best as an all-action midfielder rampaging forward when the time is right and scrambling back when the situation demands. He is not the only one.
One of Spain’s top national team commentators Joaquin Maroto has written about Saul: ‘He is what the English call “box-to-box”.
'He has that great physical presence in midfield, he covers so much ground, he can arrive in the area to score and he can sweep up at the other end of the pitch. What [Steven] Gerrard was for Liverpool and England, Saul can be for Spain.’
Saul signed for Stellar Group, the agency of Real Madrid's Gareth Bale, in February. He had penned a nine year contract two years previous with his previous agent but last season when he was frequently played out of position there was a growing understanding that he would not be seeing out that deal.
In many ways one of Saul’s greatest assets has also been what has held him back. When he was being watched as a 19-year-old out on loan at Rayo Vallecano by Sir Alex Ferguson’s brother Martin, who was then scouting for Manchester United in Spain, he was frequently played at centre-back.
Last season he was used as an emergency full-back and did so well that Diego Simeone has used him there again this season despite having a better squad of specialists in that position.
It’s not what the player wants. He has shown for both Atletico and Spain that when he is played centrally and given licence to burst forward from midfield he can provide goals and assists.
His buy-out clause of £126million is negotiable to the point that interest at around the £90m mark is likely to bring Atletico to the negotiating table.
If he does move to England next summer it will be a case of better late than never. He almost moved to England when he was a teenager, telling Sportsmail in an interview in 2017: ‘Fulham wanted me when I was 16. They were in the Premier League at the time with Mark Hughes and I was close to going.’
He has won a league title in Spain and but United would represent a massive new challenge.
The earlier comparison with Gerrard is perhaps a little off. He doesn’t have the passing range or that long elegant stride. Bryan Robson is another who he has been likened too and he certainly has the indestructible bravery.
Even the burst kidney sustained in a Champions League game in 2015 against Bayer Leverkusen has not held him back. He took a kick from Kyriakos Papadopoulos in that game and ended up spending four days in hospital.
‘The worse thing about it was seeing my dad cry when I was still on the stretcher,’ he told Sportsmail. ‘I told him: “Relax, I’m as strong as an ox, don’t worry I can take this”. But seeing him that worried will stay with me forever.’
Saul had had surgery for renal colic the previous season and the kick in the same area had left him needing doctors to drain his kidney and reduce the clot that had formed around the bruise.
He had an internal catheter fitted and was left sore and peeing blood. When he stopped using the catheter the kidney was still not working and he was given the option of playing for a month and then stopping for a month.
He rejected that option telling doctors: ‘If you can put the catheter in again and I can function normally then let’s do that, but if not then just take the kidney out. It’s fine. I’ve got another one.’
He was talked out of what would have been an ill-advised life-changing decision. He is 25-years-old now and wants to really start to fulfill the enormous potential. There is still time for him to do so at Atletico. Sportsmail understands he is not unsettled despite the continued occasional outings at full-back and Atletico’s stuttering start to the season.
But the pull of being asked to replace Pogba at United would give him a big decision to make. It might be hard to turn it down, especially if he felt the chances of Atletico Madrid building their midfield around him were showing no signs of increasing.
