Manchester United Transfer Options: Mario Goetze, the Answer to Midfield Woes

Sir Alex Ferguson’s tenure as Manchester United boss has been defined by a long-standing tendency of not buying what he perceives as "unnecessary players." This, in recent years, has become encapsulated in his steadfast refusal to accept and then remedy the patent creative flaw in the central midfield.

Now, a manager who has brought a period of unparalleled success to British football over a 25-year period would normally have his decisions encrypted in gospel, but following successive stagnant attacking displays in the wake of the team’s ballistic start to the season, something blatantly is lacking.

Mario Goetze is a 19-year-old full German international, currently residing in the Bundesliga under the tutelage of Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund. A supremely technical player in the Mesut Ozil ilk, Goetze has established himself as the attacking fulcrum of his club side's delectable attacking play, as well as a key piece in Joachim Loew’s German national side.

This year for Dortmund so far has been a wet squib in comparison to the euphoria of the runaway Bundesliga title last term. Already out of the Champions League and stuck in a rut in their league campaign, it is inevitable that their most marketable asset’s head will turn.

Now, the first obstacle that would seem set to put a kibosh to the deal would be the well-publicised propensity of the normal German player to move outside of the mother land. Yet, Goetze is not a normal German player, as he has already been widely quoted in the press as stating an affinity for a move overseas, despite the attention of close suitors Bayern Munich.

Secondly, there is the slight issue of the inevitable frenzy that will be spawned should Goetze’s name and the "available for transfer" list collide. I’m afraid, Sir Alex, that one is quite literally up to you.

Lastly, and the final real obstacle that I can envisage to scupper a transfer I want to see beyond any other, is the inevitable reticence that would be derived from paying the inevitable 25 million + fee on a normal 19-year-old with only two full years of professional experience. Yet just six years ago, Sir Alex paid an even greater fee for an 18-year-old with even less experience, and look how that one worked out…Goetze, like Rooney before him, is no ordinary teenager.

Now, I’m not saying the deal is a necessity for the upcoming winter window, or even that it is likely—it is almost certainly not. I just hope that when the frenzy does come—more than likely in the summer—Manchester United are there, as a club befitting their stature would be to grasp the helm of their own destiny and place a building block to ensure the long-term success of England’s greatest club.

I am not prone to such heartfelt pleas for transfers—quite the opposite. For normal deals, I trust the decisions of a man who knows far more than I will ever know of what Manchester United needs. But then again, this isn’t an ordinary deal…