Many questioned whether this could prove to be expensive after Manchester United made inquiries about buying a midfield player this summer, but the transfer season ended without any fresh additions in that area.
According to United insiders, strengthening the midfield was never a top priority because the team already has players it believes are capable and adaptable. It is up to Ruben Amorim to manage the early portion of the season with the help of Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro, Manuel Ugarte, Mason Mount, and Kobbie Mainoo.
Amorim thought Toby Collyer wouldn’t get enough playing time at United, so he let the young midfielder sign a season-long loan to West Brom, even though he could have provided more midfield cover.
According to the Manchester Evening News, unless United advances to the FA Cup quarterfinals this season, they will play the fewest games in a season since 1914–15 (not counting war-affected seasons).
It appears that a well-considered choice was chosen based on the fixture calendar and cost considerations, even if club management have stated that a new midfield player wasn’t a priority because of their “strong” choices.
Before the January transfer window starts, United has just 16 Premier League games left to play. After evaluating Fernandes, Casemiro, Ugarte, Mount, and Mainoo, the board determined that there was enough quality to risk.
Additionally, there is hope that Sekou Kone may contribute to the first team before the season ends. Despite Kone’s brief appearance during the US trip, staff are hopeful about his future influence.
However, it doesn’t seem likely that Kone will have a significant impact over the first half of the season. The young player needs more training time to make a strong case to Amorim, since he has been lingering near the first team group.
Last month, while playing for the Under-21s against Tamworth in the National League Cup, Kone was knocked to the head. Without a backup ambulance on call, the match had to be canceled after Kone was taken to the hospital.
The midfield player was released the next morning after spending the night in the hospital. According to a source, Kone is “fine” and will soon resume grass training, which means he might play in U21 friendlies against the PFA and Aston Villa behind closed doors during the international break.
Kone was acquired by United from Guidars FC of Mali for almost £1 million. He was signed with the goal of moving up to the first team, and considering the little sum, the transfer posed little risk.
Tommy Rowe, who took extensive French courses to converse with Kone, has helped him adjust to life in Manchester. Travis Binnion, the manager of the Under-21 team, also attended French classes, but he commended Rowe for his especially focused attempts to learn the language.
During the USA preseason, fans were excited to see Kone. Despite their belief that he might demonstrate his skills and possibly present a strong case for first-team opportunity, Amorim chose not to field him in any of the friendlies.
Since coming to England, Kone has had to navigate a difficult learning process and still has a long way to go. He has had to increase his muscle mass, adjust to the tempo, and sharpen his tactical knowledge.
Earlier this year, Binnion told the MEN: “He’s a good player and we have high expectations for him, and any player we sign, you want to have those expectations, otherwise you go away and you aren’t signing a good player. You can see with the lads in the first-team, the level of expectation is high.
“But the reward is high and our lads have to be ready, maybe sooner than other big clubs, which is a real positive for players in the academy, but it’s hard, it’s not easy, is it?”.
“He has trained with the first-team quite a lot now, but as you can see tonight and the games he’s played recently, a big part of his development is the games.
“And it’s a healthier part of our first-team in that position, and the demands on that position are really high, whereas a forward player, they can maybe make more mistakes and experiment a bit more.
“The games are really important for them to get used to, the style of play, the intensity of English football and just for him to make better decisions day in, day out, in each of the games, whereas if he didn’t play games and only dropped in now and again, I think you’d see a slower rate of development.
“A lot of [academy] players train with the first-team a lot because they’re further along in their development. He does train with the first-team, but he needs to make sure he’s developing his own game, so when he goes full-time with the first-team, he’s in the right space.”
United are hopeful that Kone can progress swiftly enough to make an impact with the senior squad this campaign. However, he won’t be hurried along given he was recruited last summer with an eye on the future.
Leave a Reply