Three areas that Jose Mourinho needs to strengthen Manchester United in January

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Defensive Midfield

Mourinho has an abundance of attacking talent at his disposal – Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Juan Mata, Wayne Rooney, Anthony Martial, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Rashford to name just a few – but in order for these offensive players to flourish United need to purchase a dominant, consistent defensive midfield player. Claude Makelele encapsulated the importance of a midfielder being able to shield the defensive unit and in the process allow more attack-minded players the freedom to cause chaos further up the pitch. However, United currently lack their ‘Makelele’.

So far this season Mourinho has experimented with an array of different players in the holding midfield position(s). Paul Pogba’s talents appear to be wasted when played in a deep role, Bastian Schweinsteiger is out of favour, whilst Marouane Fellaini and Morgan Schneiderlin simply are not up to standard. Michael Carrick appears to be one of the most effective options but what does that suggest about the longevity of the current group of players if a 35-year-old is the best viable alternative? United have the attacking talent to terrorise opposition defences, but they need to find a defensive midfield player to solidify and hold together the shape of the team.