Manchester United got lucky escape as €13m man sees his contract terminated

Manchester United got lucky escape as €13m man sees his contract terminated

Thomas Meunier has had his Borussia Dortmund contract terminated just 18 months after Manchester United were reportedly considering a £13 million move for the Belgium international.

 

 

If you need reminding exactly why an elite director of football would be welcomed with open arms at Old Trafford, cast your mind back to August 2022.

 

With just two weeks remaining until the summer window came to an end, Manchester United – eternally behind the times and badly-prepared – were targeting no fewer than five new signings. One of those was a right-back, 30-year-old Thomas Meunier one of the options under consideration at a reported £13 million (The Telegraph).

 

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Manchester United got lucky Thomas Meunier escape

Flash forward to February 2024 and, while Erik ten Hag’s squad is still a little Frankenstein-ish in some areas, the right-back spot has become a position of real strength. Both Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Diogo Dalot – the latter outstanding against West Ham on Sunday – have played the best football of their United careers over the last 12 months or so.

 

And, to think, one of Wan-Bissaka and Dalot would probably have been shipped out to make way for Meunier. A man who was already on the decline – and the wrong side of 30 – in the summer of 2022.

 

Now 32, the veteran Belgian has started only 14 Bundesliga games since United thought about adding him to Ten Hag’s roster, a series of injuries restricting his involvement in Dortmund’s yellow-and-black shirt.

 

And it’s somewhat telling that, when Trabzonspor came calling, the German giants wasted little time in terminating the final few months of Meunier’s contract. The former Paris Saint-Germain full-back moves to Turkey – already something of a ‘retirement home’ for players seeking one last pay check on European soil – on a free transfer.

 

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At a time in which questions are starting to be asked about the acquisition of Casemiro late in August 2022 – the Brazilian battleaxe brilliant in his debut season but noticeably older and slower now – Meunier would have been another rather damning indictment of the short-term, quick-fix, worry-later approach that characterised the pre-INEOS era.

 

 

According to i News, United’s new approach – driven by arrivals of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Sir Dave Brailsford, Jean-Claude Blanc, Omar Berrada and an as yet-unnamed director of football – will revolve around data, prioritising young, hungry, up-and-coming players with potential by the bucketload.

 

You know, like forward-thinking, well-run clubs tend to do.