Missing out on Mats Hummels Must Not Stop Manchester United Defensive Overhaul

It looks like Manchester United's links with Mats Hummels have come to an end, at least for this summer.

Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc told Kicker (h/t Marcus Christenson of the Guardian), "it was legitimate that Mats thought about his future, but I have told him that we are planning with him for the future."

Christenson added:

"Dortmund have held talks with Hummels and the player’s adviser and father, Hermann, and Zorc added that there was now a 'clear consensus' between the club and the player."

Hummels seemed a natural fit for Louis van Gaal's United team—a ball-playing defender with leadership qualities might be the exact person specification for United's dream defensive addition. Indeed, at the beginning of May I suggested Hummels should be United's No. 1 target for the summer. 

However, not signing him should not mean that United ignore their defensive issues.

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Across the back four, it is only the left-back position where United do not need to strengthen. Between Luke Shaw, Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo and Ashley Young they have high enough quality first XI players and solid squad back-ups.

At right-back, though, it is a different story. Antonio Valencia has received plenty of plaudits for his performances there—including United's Player of the Month award in January. However, watching him all season it has been hard to shake the feeling that an upgrade would help a lot.

There have been times his understanding of the role has let him down—when he was caught out of position in the Manchester derby at the Etihad, or against Arsenal in the FA Cup, for example. There have been times when his over-caution in attack has had an opportunity cost.

Van Gaal may value the extreme safety in his passing, but when he has the ball one-to-one with a full-back, it is hard to think that his manager would not like him to take the bold option a little more often. Valencia's safety-first approach is hardly a product of the Van Gaal era—it has been on display for some time now.

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Van Gaal has, however, clearly preferred Valencia's approach to Rafael's. Thus an upgrade on the position is going to have to come from outside the club, unless the manager makes good on the suggestion he made to MUTV (h/t United's official website) that maybe Paddy McNair "shall be the right full-back of Manchester United for the next 10 years."

At centre-back, where Hummels would have slotted in nicely, contrary to appearances in the early part of the season just gone, United are reasonably well-stocked for options.

Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and Jonny Evans should between them be good enough to deal with most of what other teams can throw at United.

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However, between each of their injury records and lapses in form, for Evans in particular, the importance of bringing in a top-quality centre-half to add to the ranks, or possibly replace Evans, still seems to be a must.

United's defending across the season was actually relatively serviceable, in terms of keeping the goals-conceded tally low. They let in the fourth-fewest goals of any Premier League side.

If you remove the five goals conceded at Leicester when the entire side appeared to spontaneously forget how to defend, they would be equal best.

However, if you added the theoretical goals that would have been conceded had they not had a goalkeeper of David De Gea's quality in the form he was in, then the defence as a collective would have looked a lot less impressive come the end of the season.

Although Smalling grew into the campaign—and was rewarded with a new contract for it—Jones has continued to look shaky at least as often as he has looked magnificent. The image of him having to use his head to make a foot-high tackle on Olivier Giroud after a stumble will live long in the memory.

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Rojo has been solid without being outstanding. While United might not be short of options, it is hard to shake the feeling that they are short of the very top level of quality. A new right-back and a higher-quality option at centre-back seem the minimum requirements. If De Gea leaves, then, of course, his position will be included in the overhaul.

United's defence may have looked a lot better by the end of the season than it did at the start, but for next season, further improvement is required.