Man Utd left-back problem: the signing Wilcox didn't make

Update (30 Oct): this piece first ran on 16 October. Since then Shaw still hasn't played, Patrick Dorgu's hamstring has him out until late November, and the 22-man squad for Chelsea contains no specialist left-back at all. The argument below has only got stronger. Live dates are in our Man Utd injury tracker.

Gary Neville saw the Man Utd left-back problem coming in August. "If they could get a centre-back and a full-back before the window closes, that will stop problems that we know we're going to see," he told Sky Sports two days before deadline day.

United bought neither. Two months on, Saturday's trip to Stamford Bridge is the problem Neville described, in its purest form.

The window that skipped a position

When the window shut, Luke Shaw was United's only senior specialist left-back. Dorgu, a wing-back who can play there, was the alternative. Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot, both right-backs, could cover, and Carlos Baleba had been mentioned as an emergency option. Harry Amass, the academy left-back, was expected to go out on loan. In the end he stayed.

The club's position in August was that they were still looking at left-backs "with a view to the future", and that their finances made a signing next year the more sensible move.

The money went on midfield. According to the Guardian, director of football Jason Wilcox oversaw £155m on Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Baleba. He did look for a left-back, with Newcastle's Lewis Hall the prime target. Recruiting three midfielders and nobody else at the back has puzzled people inside the squad.

That's the backdrop to Lisandro Martínez's outburst in Madrid, when he said he "expected more from our technical director". He apologised for the timing, not the substance.

Ten goals in four games

Shaw's last game was the 1-1 draw with Spurs on 10 October, when he picked up the knock that has kept him out since. Here's what has happened without him:

• Atlético Madrid 2-0 United: two conceded, Yoro sent off, centre-back Ayden Heaven at left-back
• Leeds 1-1 United: one conceded, from a set piece after a reshuffle at the back
• Como 4-1 United: four conceded, one inside two minutes
• United 0-3 Bournemouth: three conceded at Old Trafford

That's ten goals in four games. Not all of them came down United's left, and it would be lazy to pin a run like this on one absent full-back. But the side has been rebuilt every week around whoever is fit. Carrick even switched to a back three at Leeds, which Maguire said was worked on all week to match Leeds up. You can't settle a defence when one corner of it changes every game.

Shaw's age matters too. He's 31, and this month was reminded of the double leg break he suffered against PSV 11 years ago. Since then, any plan that depends on him playing 40 games has rested on hope, not evidence. United built their whole left side around one player and one hope.

Chelsea, with nobody to pick

United's 22 for Saturday has seven defenders: Maguire, Martínez, De Ligt, Heaven, Yoro, Dalot and Mazraoui. Dorgu is injured and Shaw isn't due back until November. Amass, who replaced De Ligt in the 79th minute at Como with the game long gone, didn't travel.

So whoever plays on the left at Stamford Bridge will be playing out of position. Carrick's real choice is between a right-back on his wrong foot and a back three with a wing-back. Our Chelsea vs Man Utd preview leans towards the second.

What happens in January

Reporting in late August pointed to United investing at left-back in "one of the next two transfer windows". That makes January the earliest point. No tier-1 outlet has since named a January target or a fee, and we won't invent one.

Hall's name will come up again because he was the prime target last time. Newcastle selling a first-choice defender mid-season to a rival is a different matter, and United shouldn't build January around a deal that needs Eddie Howe's blessing.

The fix is a profile, not a name

United don't need a superstar. They need a left-footed full-back who can defend one-on-one, play 35 games a season, and let Shaw be managed rather than relied on. That profile isn't rare, and it shouldn't cost anything like the £155m spent on midfield. The scouting work was done last summer, when Hall was top of the list. It just needs finishing.

Signing three midfielders and no left-back, when your only senior left-back has Shaw's injury history, was a gamble. It has failed. If Wilcox wants to answer Martínez properly, a specialist left-back has to be his first signing in January, before any other position is discussed.

Picture: aerial view of Old Trafford, by Arne Müseler via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 de. Cropped to 16:9.