Rio Ferdinand believes Paul Pogba may need sacrifice his attacking instincts and play a more disciplined, defensive role for Manchester United following Donny van de Beek’s arrival.
The Red Devils confirmed the signing of the Dutch box-to-box midfielder in a £40million deal from Ajax at the start of the month, though it has created some confusion over how United will line-up next season.
Ferdinand has suggested Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could do away with a traditional defensive midfielder completely and instead task Pogba with playing that role, with Bruno Fernandes and Van de Beek bombing on ahead of him.
Asked how United’s midfield could set up this coming season, Ferdinand told BBC 5Live: ‘Well that is the big question, I think.
‘Listen, if you say you’re going to play your best players in that midfield and you’re going to play three, then you’d say Paul Pogba playing in the holding role and Fernandes and Van de Beek being the guys that are playing around that, a bit more free and able to move around and create.
‘Is that Paul Pogba’s best position? I would argue not. But you have to look at what Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants to do. Does he want his best players on the pitch or is he talking about players fitting in a system?
‘I think that’s the intriguing part for me going into the season from Man United’s perspective in terms of the signing that they made, that player.
‘It’ a big call and that remains to be seen, but I still think Manchester United will have some sort of movement and there will be additions in this squad going into the season, if not the first week the second or third.’
On how much Van de Beek improves United’s squad, Ferdinand added: ‘I think that remains to be seen. I think we have to wait and see, give it a bit of time.
