The summer transfer window was one of great disappointment for many United fans. July began with them favourites to land Barcelona's much-coveted Thiago Alcantara, whose subsequent move to Bayern Munich's midfield oligopoly was merely an indication of what was to follow. After a lengthy silence, Cesc Fábregas emerged from his summer holiday to rubbish claims that he had been in talks with the Manchester club, and proceeded to declare his love affair with the Catalan giants very much ongoing. Rumours of Luka Modri angling for a way out of Madrid were quickly quashed following Xabi Alonso's broken foot, and, mysterious lawyers aside, a move for Bilbao's Ander Herrera never came close to materialising. Through all of the miscommunication, rumours and confusion one thing was clear Moyes was determined to add a creative spark to aid the oft overworked Michael Carrick in the deeper parts of the pitch, and provide another weapon to United's somewhat predictable attacking transitions. This made the last minute purchase of Marouane Fellaini, a player Moyes had worked with for a number of years at Everton, puzzling. As a player, Fellaini is many things hard working, aggressive, a physical threat and surprisingly good at producing quick, short passes to the more creative players. In essence, he's the polar opposite to smaller, creative midfielders Moyes had been chasing all summer. Fellaini has had a mediocre (at best) start to the season and seems to be struggling to reproduce his Everton form on the bigger stage. During the Manchester derby, where City cruised to a 4-1 win, he was completely overrun and outplayed by his opposite number, Yaya Touré. This has done little to endear him to a United fan base still coming to terms with a string of poor results and lacklustre performances, and it remains to be seen if he really can handle the pressure of playing for the most widely supported club in world football. Fellaini needs time to settle in, and the United squad as a whole are still adjusting to Moyes' style of play, but the midfield is an area of concern for many fans who have their eyes fixed on the January transfer window. Here we look at 3 midfielders who could propel United to the title.
I'm a man of simple pleasures, namely cheap tea, slightly more expensive coffee and marmite. I watch a lot of football, and try to put words together in order to form an opinion on it. I'm a lover of film and gaming, which explains my poor eyesight.
