Manchester United’s centre-back depth has been questioned over the past couple of seasons, and Ruben Amorim will need to assess who is at his disposal.
Despite adding Leny Yoro and Matthijs de Ligt to their options at the heart of the defence, it still feels like they do not quite have the quality or availability in their squad.
One of the newcomers, Yoro, is yet to play for the club, although De Ligt has performed well since making the move from Bayern Munich. Lisandro Martinez seems to have put his fitness issues behind him, Jonny Evans has been a good squad player over the past two seasons, and Victor Lindelof is only on the fringe of the first team now.
Another of their first-team centre-backs who might split opinion is Harry Maguire.
Maguire’s Man United career
England international Maguire joined the 13-time Premier League champions in 2019, signing from Leicester City for £80m, a fee that is still a world record for a defender. He has certainly had a mixed time of things at United.
In total, the former club captain has made 215 appearances for the club, scoring 12 goals and grabbing eight assists in that time, one of which came in the FA Cup semi-final last season, a trophy United went on to lift.
Maguire was superb under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and was made the captain just months into his Old Trafford career. However, upon the United legend’s sacking in 2021, he fell out of favour and has struggled to lock down a regular first-team spot.
This came to a head under former manager Erik ten Hag, with the Dutchman stripping the captaincy from United’s number five and giving it to Bruno Fernandes. Despite this setback, Maguire acted like a model professional and simply continued to work hard for a starting berth.
Sadly, the Englishman has struggled with injuries in recent times. Maguire has missed four games already this term, and last season was even more; he was sidelined for 17 games in a campaign where his fitness problems were frustrating.
It remains to be seen whether or not Maguire will remain at Old Trafford beyond the 2024/25 season. His contract expires in June, but United can trigger a one-year extension. With that in mind, new boss Amorim may well decide to cut his losses and sell the experienced defender, much like Ten Hag reportedly planned to do.
If that is the case, the Red Devils have a superb young replacement in the esteemed Carrington academy who could be ready to step into the fold in a few years.
United’s academy centre-back prodigy
The player in question here is Godwill Kukonki. At just 16 years of age, he is highly rated by many at Old Trafford, with his inclusion in first-team training described as “exciting” by Manchester Evening News journalist Steve Railston. He is, however, yet to make a senior appearance for the club.
Kukonki is a left-footed centre-back, who is exceptionally talented on the ball. He has played all of his football so far for the Red Devils under-18 side, both domestically and in the UEFA Youth League. However, he has featured on the bench once in the Premier League 2.
This term, the defender has featured eight times in the under-18s Premier League, and once in the UEFA Youth League. Not only has he proven to be an excellent defender, but can also chip in with goals, and has three goal involvements to his name this season.
An excellent example of the youngster’s talent came in the European fixture, away to Lithuanian side FK Zalgiris under-19s. Not only did he showcase versatility by starting at left-back, but Kukonki was composed on the ball, completing 90% of his passes and grabbing an assist, as per Sofascore.
Kukonki stats vs. FK Zalgiris | |
|---|---|
Stat | Number |
Pass accuracy | 90% |
Touches | 78 |
Passes completed | 53/59 |
Dribbles completed | 2 |
Ground duels won | 2 |
Clearances | 2 |
Assists | 1 |
Stats from Sofascore | |
The first team could be a little too far out of reach yet for Kukonki. However, Amoirm is a manager who believes in academy players and gave 27 Sporting youth players their debut.
Combine that with United’s ethos of believing in the academy, and a debut for the youngster is not out of the question if he continues to thrive, thus putting Maguire’s status in the squad at further risk.
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