Latest United crisis shines light on harrowing issue with whole squad – opinion

Only the delusional have spent much time this season admiring Manchester United’s squad. There are undoubtedly some fantastic footballers operating at Old Trafford – one of them is in the conversation for Premier League player of the season with 17 assists and counting. But as a collective, the massed ranks of United’s 2025-26 squad are flattered by sitting third in the table, the group still feeling thrown together rather than painstakingly assembled. Disjointed group It’s not surprising, given that Erik ten Hag’s erratic recruitment segued clumsily into Ruben Amorim’s uncompromisingly system-driven approach which started to mould a squad in a very specific image before the seesaw tipped back to a more conventional tactical setup. But as the midfield sinkhole grew wider and deeper, and first one then another young striker was forced to largely go it alone at the sharp end, there was at least some comfort to be found in United’s own box. Good on paper Sandwiched between sometimes questionable full-backs, then wing-backs, then full-backs again was a revolving cast of genuinely good central defenders, a theoretically solid blend of experience and potential. Elder statesman Harry Maguire may have started secondary school before young Ayden Heaven was born, but both offered something positive to the squad and to the team when called upon. Blockbuster names like serial winner Matthijs de Ligt, the phenomenally promising big-money teenager Leny Yoro and fan favourite pitbull Lisandro Martinez rounded out a well-stocked, multi-function centre-back department. One position, it seemed, we didn’t need to worry about too urgently. Bad in practice Now, however, the picture is dramatically different. After a run of poor form Yoro has been sidelined through injury, joining long-term absentee De Ligt in the treatment room. So long-term are Dutchman’s issue that his viability as any kind of first-team option is in doubt even when he makes a return. Martinez, currently suspended for a harsh red card against Leeds United, also has a question mark of fitness hanging over him, and also has been sporadically bad during his stop-start season. Maguire has had arguably his best season to date and misses the Chelsea game through suspension, but at 33 is not a figure for the future. Heaven, who most certainly is, has been handed just 15 minutes of football by Michael Carrick after eight consecutive starts in Amorim’s ever-shifting back three. The reality So that shakes down as an unsettlingly shaky youngster currently injured, a veteran whose failure to control his temper has left his team in hot water through suspension, two serial crocks and a teenager starved of gametime. Some of these situations will resolve themselves sooner than others, but the idea that United’s central defence was taken care of suddenly looks ridiculous. Yoro needs more time to bed in but must soon start justifying his hefty price tag, and Maguire’s new deal commits him to the club for at least another year, but Martinez and De Ligt are now serious concerns. Heaven is still raw, his excellent potential not enough to make him a figurehead. Wider issue United’s centre-back crisis speaks to a much wider issue – that the squad is threadbare pretty much everywhere. Apply a similar level of injury and suspension to any other position and the outcome would be even worse. That’s not to say the damage is irreparable, as none of the positives offered by the group have entirely disappeared, but it’s shifted suddenly from an area of comfort to a position which quite possibly will now require investment this summer. The upcoming transfer window is monumentally important for delivering a lasting solution to the barren midfield and for improving options out wide. The abrupt disintegration of United’s central defence threatens to undermine these crucial areas of recruitment by taking up valuable time and funds, stretching already spartan resources to breaking point. These players can be good enough but need to shape up and shape up fast, or next season could be over before it’s begun. Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Joe Ponting Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried. He cut his teeth working in print media for local newspapers and entered football journalism covering the grassroots game for the Non-League Paper. Here he achieved a career high, interviewing United legend Sir Bobby Charlton to get his views on the lower echelons of the football pyramid. To kill time during international breaks Joe writes album reviews and has strong views on post punk for Plus One Magazine.