Which of these five Premier League clubs would be the most suitable destination for Celtic’s Moussa Dembele?

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Manchester United

United’s current tactical set-up under José Mourinho is curious, simply because the Portuguese isn’t opting for a consistent line-up throughout the game and often tactically reshuffles his pack.

Having used a 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 formation at times this season, Mourinho’s current favoured formation for the Red Devils is a 4-2-3-1 formation which all centre around one constant up front, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. At times this season various players have featured in support of the Swede in various formations, with Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial making cameos out wide, Juan Mata appearing both in midfield and out on the right-flank, and Wayne Rooney, Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan all having featured in Number Ten roles behind the lone striker.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic recently announced that he would stay on at Manchester United for another year, but Mourinho needs a younger, long-term replacement for the veteran, which is where Moussa Dembele as a lone-forward style of player may come in useful. Although his first-team opportunities may initially be limited in such a formation, with Ibrahimovic’s twilight years not far away, Dembele could be given opportunities to impress by Mourinho, possibly in an attacking three with another youngster in Martial or Rashford supporting him in the case of a tactical re-shuffle.

Dembele’s opportunities may depend on the way Mourinho opts to line-up his United team. Many of his best sides down the years at other clubs have been built around a Number Ten, and the player currently filling out that role, interchanging with the lone forward is Mkhitaryan. Mata is deadly in support out on the right, with Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Wayne Rooney, and Ashley Young all options on the left.

What Dembele lacks aerially compared to Ibrahimovic, would be made up in the fact that he negates all of Ibrahimovic’s faults in leading the line. The Swede’s lack of pace ensures opposition defences don’t need to worry about balls over the top due to his lack of pace, and he doesn’t tend to be lethal enough when United break and counter, a style of play Mourinho favours. Dembele’s youth and pace could directly combat this problem. But what Dembele can also do, however, is drop deep and act as a focal point like Ibrahimovic, allowing Mkhitaryan to enjoy the same interchange with the forward and also allow United to exploit the creativity provided to the forward and Number Ten by Juan Mata.

Dembele would undoubtedly fit such a line-up as a more youthful alternative for the ageing Zlatan, but the system could well be changed before then because of how it inhibits Paul Pogba. The France international in this formation is forced to play deeper, occupying what was Michael Carrick’s role, next to Ander Herrera. This not only deprives Pogba of the attacking freedom he enjoys, but it also lays far more defensive responsibility upon him, an area in which he is inexperienced, and that inexperience has been exposed and has cost United defensively against better sides, Kevin de Bruyne ruthlessly profiting from such exposure at the back when Manchester City triumphed at Old Trafford earlier in the campaign. So, the opportunity to feature in such a formation may well depend on whether or not the £89million man is able to adapt his game.

Dembele could prosper in another system under Mourinho though. Like with the other clubs, the 20-year-old would be an ideal central striker in a forward three, a formation which Mourinho has deployed this season, and there is a case for Dembele to feature in a 4-4-2 formation, which has been used to great effect for United this season in their victory at Leicester. That day saw a forward partnership of Ibrahimovic and Marcus Rashford dismantle the Foxes, and Dembele may fit in as an alternative for either. Like Rashford, he is quick, technically skillful, has an eye for goal and can create chances for others, whilst he also offers a solution for the aspects lacking in Ibrahimovic’s game. He has similar strength, can act as a focal point for others all the same and has substantially more pace, the only doubt likely to be whether or not Dembele could be as prolific in the Premier League as he has been in Scotland and in the Championship.

All in all, then, Dembele may well be an ideal fit for Manchester United, although his first-team opportunities may be more limited than he’d like in the first instance. Though if he were, as Rodgers predicts, to remain at Celtic for one more season, he may not encounter such a problem. There may then also be more certainty as to whether or not Old Trafford could offer Dembele a shot at the Champions League, with United still struggling to secure that coveted top-four spot ahead of 2017/18.