Manchester United’s protracted transfer for Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong has dominated headlines for nearly three months now. There’s nonetheless no finish in sight with probabilities of United lacking out on their main goal rising by the day.

Erik ten Hag is conscious of the necessity to strengthen in the course of the park contemplating the shortage of depth in that division.

CDM a fear for United

Solely Fred and Scott McTominay are able to enjoying because the deep-lying playmaker although they aren’t fairly on the identical stage because the Barca playmaker.

Donny van de Beek‘s auditions haven’t gone based on plan whereas the kids like Charlie Savage and James Garner usually are not thought-about to be fairly prepared at this time limit.

Erik ten Hag sees Napoli midfielder Fabian Ruiz as a critical various to Frenkie de Jong, if #mufc do not signal him. [@jamesalanrobson]

— The United Stand (@UnitedStandMUFC) August 6, 2022

And with the top of the switch window approaching quick, the Dutch boss has privately hinted at the necessity to preserve options prepared in case De Jong doesn’t arrive in Manchester.

And one participant who has impressed the previous Ajax coach is Napoli’s Fabian Ruiz. In line with Objective, Ten Hag sees the Spaniard as somebody who can dictate the aspect’s type of play identical to De Jong.

That the Purple Devils are focused on securing the Spanish worldwide’s companies reveals that they’re lastly working out of persistence with Barcelona and the Netherlands worldwide.

As reported beforehand, United had even tabled a bid with Ruiz’s agent however Napoli had rejected it for being too low. There’s a probability that United may be again in for him contemplating Ruiz’s want to depart Naples.

The 26-year-old has gained 15 caps for Spain and his wonderful passing vary means he could be the proper orchestrator from deep.

Ruiz the proper various

In line with stats from SofaScore, Ruiz’s tackling skill outscored that of De Jong (1.7 to 1.1) whereas mopping up opposition assaults was De Jong’s forte (3.8 to 2.7).

Each rank excessive when it comes to passing skill whereas Ruiz’ penchant for lengthy passes outscored that of the Dutchman. Offensively, Ruiz ranks greater having seven targets and 4 assists whereas De Jong managed simply three targets and three assists.

However Ten Hag has all the time maintained that both the proper goal arrives or the membership is prepared to attend. “You don’t want any participant, you want the best participant, that’s what we’re working for. If it’s not the best participant, no (we’d not signal one other participant). We want the best gamers.”

That may be a clear indication of what Ten Hag thinks about shopping for an various for De Jong. However with United set to start out the Premier League marketing campaign with out their main goal, it may not be lengthy earlier than the brand new supervisor has no different alternative however to pursue one other midfielder. In that case, Ruiz can be the best candidate.

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