Having addressed some of their defensive issues this summer, Manchester United were also in the market for a new central midfielder with the likes of new signing Marouane Fellaini ineffectual and Tom Cleverley ultimately deemed surplus to requirements. And so in the same week Luke Shaw arrived at Old Trafford Ander Herrera joined him in the arrivals lounge at Manchester airport as the clubs second signing of the summer. Herrera had been on the Reds radar for some time before he eventually signed from Athletic Bilbao on a £28.85 million deal, and came close to joining 12 months prior. Instead he stayed at the Basque club where he enjoyed what proved to be his final season in Spain, scoring five goals and creating as many assists in the league. Thats more goals than Uniteds entire midfield could string together between them last term, and the 25-year-old is a major improvement on their current central midfield options. Herreras already shown signs he could be a hit at Old Trafford. In a pre-season friendly with LA Galaxy, he created three of Uniteds seven goals in the 7-0 thrashing of the MLS side, which is more assists than Ashley Young and Fellaini had all of last season. If he can put on those kind of performances on a weekly basis, he could prove to be one of the best signings of the summer.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
