Manchester United have had a busy Tuesday, as the club confirmed the arrivals of two players and the departure of another. In what was expected to happen for the past 10 days, now was officially confirmed. Aaron Wan-Bissaka has left Manchester United and joined West Ham, in a deal worth around 15 million pounds, paving the way for the completion of the other two deals.
Soon after the Hammers have confirmed Wan-Bissaka had put pen to paper, Man United confirmed the arrivals of Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs De Ligt from Bayern Munich. The duo of former Ajax players join the other former Ajax members at Man United, such as Antony, Andre Onana, Lisandro Martinez and manager Erik Ten Hag.
The double transfer deal has a total worth of just under 60 million pounds and is expected to make a big mark on the way United will play and perform in Ten Hag’s third season. De Ligt will strengthen United’s options n central defence, particularly after the departure of Raphael Varane. Leny Yoro did also join from Lille, but the 18-year-old Frenchman sustained an injury in pre-season which might even see him sidelined until the beginning of 2025. The Devils reportedly paid 38.5 million pounds for De Ligt, with 4.3 million pounds in add-ons.
As for Mazraoui, he is another player that shone under Ten Hag at Ajax, winning three league titles with them. The Morocco international has been capped by his national team on 28 occasions and he featured in a World Cup semi-final against France in Qatar 2022. His fee is reportedly in the range of 12.8 million pounds initially and then 4.3 million pounds in add-ons. Mazraoui signed a four-year deal with an option of another 12 months, and he will be joining Diogo Dalot at right-back. Ten Hag will now have two strong options in that position, and both Mazraoui and De Ligt are expected to be available for United’s season-opener against Fulham on Friday night.
It was also confirmed on Tuesday that Mazraoui will be wearing number 3 and De Ligt will be donning the number 4 shirt. Whether we will see them in action as soon as Friday, remains to be seen, as Ten Hag might give the fans an update in that regard in Thursday’s press conference. United’s defence is now shaping up nicely, although we will not see Luke Shaw against Fulham, due to his injury problem. But should things go well, a back four of Mazraoui, De Ligt, Martinez and Shaw looks like a much better proposition for a team that wants to make drastic improvements in the 2024-25 season.
With them all fit, United will have a back five (including a goalkeeper) with four players who played under Ten Hag at Ajax. Hopefully this quintet will be able to have some more successes as they did in the Netherlands.