Manchester United officially announced a double deal yesterday which saw Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt reunite with former manager Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford.
Most fans will be much more familiar with De Ligt than they will be with United’s new full back, but perhaps he will be just as imperative to finally achieving the style of play Ten Hag is keen to implement at Old Trafford.
The Moroccan came through the various Ajax youth teams and made his debut in the 2017-2018 season with the senior team under Ten Hag’s management.
The marauding fullback played 137 times for the Dutch giants over the course of five seasons and won an array of domestic trophies.
Interestingly he also left for Bayern Munich the same year De Ligt joined the Bavarian club, even though the Dutchman was bought from Juventus, having left Ajax a few years earlier.
Mazraoui has also carved out an important role for himself in the Moroccan national team and was part of the group that made it to the semi-finals of the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
According to Sky Sports, United view him as “a young, versatile and dynamic full-back – strong defensively and going forward on the left or right.”
Mazraoui has also been labelled a “player still with world-class potential and a [penchant] for high-velocity, bold football”.
Mazraoui has the potential to make “a defence more holistic in its approach to buildup play, and thus sets the tone for everyone else in the side”, crucially being used to the best of his ability by no other than Ten Hag while they were in Amsterdam together.
Clearly the Moroccan rates the United manager as on the announcement of his transfer he claimed, “Erik ten Hag played an important part in my development as a player … It’s exciting to be reuniting with him as I enter the prime years of my career.”
So the main question United fans will be considering is what can he add to Ten Hag’s side?
The positives are quite clear as he could not be a more opposite full back than Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who has just departed for West Ham United.
While the Englishman specialised in tackling, Mazraoui is much more about contributing to the build up play.
“He thrives in tight spaces because beating a man 1v1 is his specialty, be it by dribbling past him, performing a quick link-up or just a simple forward pass. He can do it all and that’s his bread and butter, ranking in 98th percentile for passes under pressure per 90 (9.32) compared to other full-backs in 2022.”
He also possesses “high game IQ combined with his movement and attacking presence” which allows him to occupy advanced positions, and as a result, “registered 0.32 goals and assists per 90 in the Eredivisie and the Champions League in 2021/22, an exceptional tally for a fullback.”
One major problem United have had for years is that when there have been injuries, the replacements have had a very different skillset and hence the team has had to change its style of play.
First choice fullbacks Diogo Dalot and Luke Shaw are both comfortable in attack but the Moroccan takes this aspect to another level.
Moreover, he can substitute either due to his versatility and the manager will not have to drastically change his setup like Wan-Bissaka would force him to do.
Another plus point of Mazraoui is his big game experience. Once again, like De Ligt, he has played for huge clubs like Ajax and Bayern Munich where this is a constant pressure to win.
In addition, as mentioned previously, he has played in a World Cup semi-final for Morocco and been an integral part in his nation’s recent success.
Of course, he does come with his drawbacks however. The biggest concern is something that The Peoples Person has already highlighted and that is his scary injury history.
The fullback has had numerous spells in his career where he has had to miss over a month of action and this is not good news as United have army of injury prone full backs when you consider Shaw and Tyrell Malacia.
The Red Devils will hope that him playing as a rotation option will see him play less and have more time to recover to avoid these muscle injuries and niggles that have plagued his career.
Nonetheless, at €20 million he is not a huge gamble. If he is able to contribute in a Ten Hag system the way he has in the past, even if he picks up the odd injury, the transfer will be worth it.
Combined with Andre Onana, Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez, United now have a backline steeped in the Ajax tradition and finally fans can look forward to a side that is incredibly competent at playing out from the back.
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