An update has emerged on Manchester United and their plans to add a central defender to their squad in the summer transfer window…
What’s the latest on Benjamin Pavard to Manchester United?
According to FootballTransfers, the Red Devils have turned their attention to Bayern Munich stopper Benjamin Pavard ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.
The report claims that the Premier League side are looking at alternative options to Napoli’s Kim Min-jae, who is said to be on his way to Bavaria, with Erik ten Hag now eyeing the Bundesliga monster.
It states that the German outfit are set to demand a fee of at least €30m (£26m) for the French international, although it remains to be seen whether the English outfit are willing to match that figure or not.
Where would Benjamin Pavard fit in at Manchester United?
The very versatile former Stuttgart enforcer played the majority of his matches at centre-back for Bayern last term and his arrival could spell trouble for Raphael Varane next season.
Pavard is a right-sided player, who can also be deployed as a full-back and could partner the left-footed Lisandro Martinez at Old Trafford as part of a rather balanced-looking back four.
Varane averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.85 across 24 Premier League outings in the 2022/23 campaign as he contributed with one tackle and 0.5 interceptions per game.
The ex-Real Madrid star, who also won 64% of his duels, did not rank among the top ten performers for United for tackles or interceptions per match, whilst he also placed 13th overall in the team when it came to his Sofascore rating.
The Bayern titan, meanwhile, made 2.3 tackles and 1.5 interceptions per Bundesliga outing, along with a duel success rate of 67%, and no player in ten Hag’s squad made as many, which suggests that the 27-year-old machine could be an outstanding addition to the defence.
Pavard's average Sofascore rating of 7.36 across 30 league matches was only bettered at Old Trafford by Bruno Fernandes' rating of 7.56. This illustrates how impressive the French tank's displays were for the German champions and why United must swoop for him this summer.
Once described as "underrated" by current Bayern head coach Thomas Tuchel, the Frenchman is also an exceptional ball-playing defender who could provide Ten Hag with an upgrade on Varane in possession.
The £83k-per-week talent has averaged 7.59 progressive passes per 90 across the last 365 days, which ranks among the top 1% of players in his position across Europe's top five divisions.
Meanwhile, the current United centre-back has averaged 3.23 per 90 over the last 365 days and is in the 52nd percentile, which suggests that he is a fairly average player at progressing the play with the ball at his feet.
Therefore, the signing of Pavard would be bad news for Varane as his international colleague could provide more quality on and off the ball as a central defender, which could leave the 30-year-old colossus out of the starting XI on the right side of the backline.