Has Morgan Schneiderlin Done Enough to Justify His £24M Price Tag?

Morgan Scnheiderin's Manchester United career so far cannot be called an unqualified success, but it is too soon to rule on whether he has justified his price tag.

Of course, the nature of contemporary football coverage means a difficult first season is all it takes to be labelled a "flop." Mike McGrath of the Sun on Sunday reported that United would be open to offers for both Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay after their rough starts to life at Old Trafford. But if true, this would be a ridiculous position for the club to take.

Having covered the issues around Memphis' future on Friday, let's take a look at Schneiderlin's season so far and what he has brought to United. 

Of course, the first thing to say is that the idea of justifying the price of a transfer is an amorphous and unspecific concept. In the first instance, the transfer fee is a decreasingly relevant metric given the inflation in footballers' wages.

Schneiderlin, for example, signed on a four-year contract with an option to extend for a further year, per the club's website. He earns £100,000 per week, according to Simon Mullock of the Mirror. Over four years, that shakes out to over £20 million. Thus his wages are as much of a consideration as the fee paid.  

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Additionally, it is impossible to make a like-for-like comparison across different transfers because circumstances affect the price. In December 2014, United manager Louis van Gaal, speaking at a press conference ahead of a clash with Southampton, said "When Manchester is coming clubs are always asking more money and we have to pay because we are Manchester United."

The notion of a big-club premium makes intuitive sense given the selling clubs will, of course, know the buying club is working with a substantial budget. Therefore, a £24 million signing arriving at Old Trafford does not equate to the value of a £24 million signing arriving at, say, Southampton.

So in terms of living up to the price tag, the bar is set a little lower. Of course the paradox of this is that the standard expected is a little higher.

Taking money out of the equation, it is probably worth asking whether Schneiderlin has lived up to the standards expected of a Manchester United midfielder.

This is also a pretty challenging question to answer because it is complicated by the Van Gaal factor. United's midfield as a whole has been, frankly, kind of a mess this season.

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Van Gaal has used combinations of Schneiderlin, Michael Carrick, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini to form the midfield two in the 4-2-3-1 that has been his go-to formation. Schneiderlin has played alongside each of those players but has not had a long run alongside any of them so has been unable to build a deep understanding and partnership.

It is also not clear whether his best role is the one in which Van Gaal has him playing. He has been the more defensive man in most of the midfield partnerships—perhaps the exception being when he has played alongside Carrick.

At Southampton, he was more centrally involved in attacking play. The evidence for this can be found in the numbers—the following are taken from his Premier League appearances over the past two seasons. 

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In his final league season at St Mary's, he averaged 0.8 key passes and an average of 65.4 passes per 90 minutes played. At United, he is averaging 0.5 key passes per 90 and around 10 per cent fewer passes per 90, 58.8. This in a side that is set up to pass the ball a lot.

There are further clues he has taken a more defensive role in the fact he averaged 1.3 shots per 90 in 2014/15 and is averaging just 0.5 at United.

He is running with the ball less too. A drop from 0.9 attempted dribbles per game to 0.7 might not sound huge, but it means on average he is making over 20 per cent fewer attempts to beat a man.

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All of that points to a revised role that has been evident simply from watching Schneiderlin at United as compared with his time at Southampton. He has been adapted from a true box-to-box midfielder to more of a defensive, holding midfielder. Whether that is a positive remains to be seen.

While it suits the manager's system, it is not clear whether it is making best use of the player's strengths. For the first half of the season Van Gaal had his midfield sat behind the ball most of the time—they rarely broke ahead of play—which was a substantial part of why the football was so static and dull. Schneiderlin most definitely suffered from that.

He has been dropped at odd times this season, and there was a stretch between the end of October and the turn of the year when he seemed out of favour. However, he has played the most league minutes (1,787) of any midfielder.

Only Wayne Rooney, Anthony Martial, Juan Mata, David De Gea, Daley Blind and Chris Smalling have had more time on the pitch in the league for the Red Devils this season.

And generally, he has justified his inclusion. Of the eight league games United have lost this season, Schneiderlin was absent for half of them. He has only missed two of their 14 wins.

Other than the 3-0 home win against Stoke City, he has been present for all of the Red Devils' best performances of the season—the 3-0 win at Goodison Park against Everton, the 3-2 win over Arsenal at Old Trafford and the 1-0 win over Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium being good examples.

He didn't play in plenty of the worst too, such as the 3-0 loss to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium—a game which was crying out for his presence. He missed the 2-1 defeats to Bournemouth and Norwich City and the 2-0 loss at Stoke City on Boxing Day.

He played in the 1-0 home loss to Southampton and the 2-0 loss at Anfield in the UEFA Europa League. In the latter game, though, he was one of the few United players to emerge with any credit, making a key pass, getting his one shot on target and making two tackles, three interceptions—the most of any United player—and three clearances.

In absolute terms, he has not yet justified his transfer fee. But a player signed on a four-year contract should not be expected to justify their fee in one season. He has begun the process of adapting to life at Old Trafford and shown plenty of evidence that he belongs at this level in spite of being fairly regularly dropped and used in a system that does not get the best out of his talents.

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It is laughable to describe him as a "flop."

Next season, he needs to build on the start he has made. Most United fans will be hoping that means impressing a new manager rather than enduring another season under Van Gaal. That prospective new manager would hopefully allow Schneiderlin to express himself a little more and to build a consistent partnership with another midfielder.

If he does, there is every chance the France international will grow into a vital player at United. In a couple of seasons' time, it could well become obvious he has justified his fee.

All advanced statistics per WhoScored.com.