Former Manchester United striker tells club to make surprise midfield signing | Football

Manchester United are looking for a new midfielder and former Red Devils striker Louis Saha has offered a surprise solution to their problem.

Central midfield was an area the club were looking to improve on last summer, with strong interest in Brighton’s Carlos Baleba.

That ultimately went nowhere, but it seems certain Manchester United will strengthen in the middle of the park this summer, especially with Casemiro confirming that he will leave at the end of his current contract.

Baleba remains on their list of targets, along with the likes of Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton and Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson.

Saha reckons that an 18-year-old Frenchman could be the long-term answer, though, tipping up Lille’s Ayyoub Bouaddi as a future Manchester United star.

Bouaddi made his debut for Lille at just 16 years and 3 days in October 2023 in the Europa Conference League.

He became the youngest ever player in a European club competition and Lille’s youngest ever player. He made his Ligue 1 debut the same month.

Having turned 18 in October, the midfielder has already racked up 50 Ligue 1 appearances and 79 senior outings for Lille, along with eight caps for France Under-21s.

Saha has certainly been impressed and thinks the Red Devils should snap him up, as they did with Leny Yoro from the same club in 2024.

‘He might be very young, but Bouaddi is able to read the game, he is a big prospect,’ Saha told Grosvenor Casnios. ‘He reminds me a bit of Leny Yoro in terms of his age and potential, he can read the game.

‘He’s the type of player I would love to see at United.’

Saha, who won two Premier League titles and the Champions League with Manchester United, also had some advice for Red Devils striker Benjamin Sesko.

The summer signing has scored four goals so far this season and looked to be hitting some form before Michael Carrick took over as interim boss, but Bryan Mbeumo has been preferred up front in the last two games.

‘I think Benjamin Sesko is starting to understand the Premier League more, the movement, his teammates, the tactics he has to play under, sometimes with the pressing, sometimes not, sometimes just being a fox in the box,’ said Saha of the 22-year-old.

‘He’s an athlete, so those opportunities will come. The more games he’s going to play, the more goals he’s going to score. I think he needs to have that eye where he’s like almost battling a defender and he wants revenge.

‘He needs this kind of aggression a bit more, and arrogance. I think when we get that, Sesko is going to be one of the players who is really hard to play against. He just needs to be a bit more aggressive, not in a bad way, like tackles, but just believe in himself and have the guts to try and retry and not think twice.

‘At this age, it’s a very big task, but I think he has the opportunity to do it because there is not much competition for him upfront, so he has to do it.

‘He has the opportunity to do it, but he has to do it because this is what the manager needs. He needs arrogance, a bit like Matheus Cunha can show sometimes, or Bryan Mbuemo.

‘When you have all the players really express this kind of confidence and arrogance, this is where any defence will, I think, in some way, become fragile.’

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