gasp midfield signing with Neville in 'shock'

Man Utd are weighing up a late move for Leicester City midfielder Louis Page ahead of the transfer deadline, according to reports.

The Red Devils have spent most of the summer transfer window looking at bringing in midfield signings with Youri Tielmans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba joining from Aston Villa, Chelsea and Brighton respectively.

Man Utd are now looking for a left-back signing on deadline day, while they could also bring in a new striker if Joshua Zirkzee finds a way out of Old Trafford before the window shuts.

As well as touching on Zirkzee’s situation, journalists Laurie Whitwell and Cerys Jones, in a joint report for The Athletic, have revealed that Man Utd are still considering a late move for Leicester City midfielder Page.

Whitwell and Jones write: ‘If Joshua Zirkzee leaves, United will look to recruit another striker, but this could be a loan prospect.

‘United are weighing up how to proceed with Leicester City over 18-year-old midfielder Louis Page. Arsenal have also looked at signing him, but a transfer fee needs to be agreed.

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‘Head coach Michael Carrick sounds like he wants another addition, but United have been disciplined this summer, and there is no guarantee more signings will arrive.’

Man Utd legend Gary Neville is shocked that the Red Devils have chosen not to strengthen their defence before transfer deadline day.

Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast: “I know they’ve done it in quite a measured fashion: the forward line last year, the midfield this summer, but I do feel that when you go into the Champions League and you’ve got an uncertain defence in the sense that a couple of them are injury-prone and they’re likely to get injured.

“I always think pessimistically… I always imagine if you’ve lost two defenders, what are you like you know what’s your strength in depth like?

“And I think that for the top clubs that are playing in the Champions League, you’ve got to imagine what happens if Luke Shaw gets injured? That’s going to cause a real problem.

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“What happens if Harry Maguire gets injured? You’ve got a real problem. So I always imagine: just take your two most dominant defenders out for two months simultaneously, which can happen, and you’re playing Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, you’re going to concede goals, and you’re going to lose football matches.”

‘There’s no real noise coming out of Old Trafford’

Neville added: “So I just would have liked to have seen Manchester United bring in a left back and a centre-back to advance the money from next season’s budget into this season and just make sure Michael Carrick is covered.

“Because he would have a real problem if he was playing with Heaven and Yoro at centre-back or Yoro at right back or Mazraoui at left back for a long time; it’d be a problem.

“So I’ve said quite simply that I think that it would have been sensible to strengthen that back line this summer just with one or two, maybe not the four that is needed, but just one or two to make sure they don’t get left short.

“So it’s not ideal. I’m shocked that Manchester United haven’t put at least one defender in. It would be perfect if they could find a left-sided centre-back that could play left back, but those players don’t tend to exist as much anymore.

“Somebody like that would have been perfect, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. There’s no real noise coming out of Old Trafford.”

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