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Manchester United keep oscillating from one extreme to the other, as they followed up their encouraging display against Chelsea midweek to arguably their worst performance this season against Bournemouth on Saturday.
United were defeated 0-3 at Old Trafford, the first time they have lost to the Cherries at home in the Premier League and their 11th overall this campaign.
Manager Erik ten Hag is under real threat of losing his job with the team showing no real improvement and struggling for consistency despite this being the Dutchman’s second season at the club.
Defensive nightmare so far
Injuries have played a massive part but a team simply cannot concede the second-most goals in the Champions League group stages just because they have lost their best defender — Lisandro Martinez.
The Red Devils have conceded three or more goals nine times across all competitions this campaign, four of those coming at the Theatre of Dreams.
With the World Cup winner out till the new year and Raphael Varane increasingly likely to depart, it is clear that Ten Hag needs support in the January transfer window.
United have been linked with the likes of Jean-Clair Todibo, Antonio Silva, Marc Guehi just to name a few and as per Kicker, Jonathan Tah is also part of that list.
The German international has been an ever-present member of the Bayer Leverkusen backline with the club sitting atop the Bundesliga table.
The 27-year-old has helped keep eight clean sheets in 14 games while also scoring four times. His performances have alerted all the big guns of the Premier League, who want to try and sign him as early as January.
The defender has a €18 million release clause in his contract which can be activated in the summer and Leverkusen are in no mood to sell during the winter window.
“In addition to Chelsea FC, Tottenham Hotspur, and Manchester United, who are acutely affected by injury problems in the defense center, are also showing interest in the defensive giant. Liverpool FC should also look into Tah.
Tah not possible to acquire in January
The catch: These clubs are also looking for central defenders for the winter transfer window. However, a change for the defender, who has an exit clause of 18 million euros for the summer transfer window, is virtually impossible.
“Two regular central defenders, Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso) and Odilon Kossounou (Ivory Coast), will probably be missing because of the Africa Cup.
“Without Tah not only for the restart, but also for the entire second half of the season, would further jeopardize the lofty goals of the club, which has a chance of winning the title in all three competitions.”
It makes sense for Leverkusen to try and hold on to the 6.4ft giant or to ask for an exorbitant amount to scare away clubs. It will be interesting to see how this chase pans out as January approaches.
