credit: goal.com
Reports in Germany claim that the 30-year-old is
closing in on a €20 million move to Old Trafford but where would he slot
in? Goal takes a look at the options...
Friday evening sent the rumour mill into overdrive as Bild reported that Bastian Schweinsteiger's move to Manchester United is all but confirmed.The report claimed that the World Cup-winning midfielder will join from Bayern Munich in a €20 million (£14.3m) deal and has signed a three-year contract worth €10m (£7.1m) per season with Louis van Gaal's side.
So with reports in Germany claiming a deal is all but done, where will the 30-year-old fit in to Van Gaal's plans at United? Goal looks at the possibilities...
Juan Mata and Ander Herrera struck up an excellent understanding as last season progressed but with the absence of Michael Carrick, United lacked that vital link from defence to midfield.
Schweinsteiger has the experience and the technical ability to plug that gap which allows Mata and Herrera to create further forward but would leaving Carrick, so influential for much of the last campaign, out of the side really be an option?
If Van Gaal decides to go with a 3-4-3 (or 3-5-2, as he experimented with in the last campaign) next season, Herrera and Schweinsteiger could be the best central combination United possess.
When asked about signing a new deep-lying midfielder in May, Van Gaal confessed that his options are limited, aside from Carrick, and that he prefers Herrera in a more advanced midfield role.
"No.6 is a key player, yes. I have more key roles – the no.6 is just one of those key roles," said the United manager. "You have seen this season, for example, because Carrick is injured and I don't have another, I have to play with Herrera there. He did it very well, but it is not his speciality.
"I have played Wayne Rooney there also, but it is not his favoured position. I had to do this because I don't have another right-footed holding midfielder like Carrick. That is why it is a key role, but I cannot discuss other positions because then I show too much."
Given his importance to United last term, it's unlikely that Carrick will find himself on the bench when fit next season.
With the 33-year-old taking up his anchoring role, it would allow Schweinsteiger and Mata to push further forward in order to support Memphis Depay, Wayne Rooney and Angel Di Maria - who could switch back to a right-wing spot after impressing in a similar role for Argentina at the Copa America earlier this summer.
A trio of Depay, Di Maria and Ashley Young presents a formidable counter-attacking unit that's filled with pace. Carrick and Schweinsteiger would be at the base which would allow the trio to flourish and link with Rooney in attack.
The presence of Carrick would also allow Schweinsteiger greater freedom to get involved in attacks, while Di Maria would be afforded further license to operate in more of a free role, which could see him at his most dangerous.
Could Memphis Depay form a strike partnership with Wayne Rooney? Van Gaal is short of options and hasn't ruled out the possibility of using the 21-year-old as a forward.
If the United boss opts to go with that pairing up front in a 4-4-2 system, Schweinsteiger and Herrera being flanked by Young and Di Maria looks to be a balanced midfield option.
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