One Manchester United man looks set to leave the club this summer after fans branded his performances under Rúben Amorim as “horrible”.
Manchester United look on the verge of a mass exodus from the club. A multitude of players are either reaching the end of their contracts or are looking likely to be moved on to bring in new players.
In terms of incomings, Ruben Amorim is favouring attacking players. United are in the bottom half of the Premier League for goals this season and rectifying that is Amorim’s top summer priority. Matheus Cunha and Liam Delap are favourites to join the club with attackers Marcus Rashford and Antony.
Several players are also reportedly leaving the club at the end of their contracts. Two of the squad’s oldest players, Christian Eriksen and Jonny Evans, are among those whose contracts won’t be renewed.
Another area that may need improvement is United’s goalkeeping department, where seven errors have led to goals this season. Due to this, it now looks like one of United’s goalkeepers will be leaving the club this summer.
Bayindir almost certainly on his way out
In a recent Q&A with BBC Sport, journalist Simon Stone was asked about a potential replacement for United’s first-choice keeper, Andre Onana. The BBC’s chief football news reporter brushed off the idea that Onana may be replaced, saying, “I really think they hope not to be bringing in another experienced goalkeeper.”
Stone spoke about United’s general goalkeeping issues, and mentioned that second-choice goalkeeper Altay Bayındır is “virtually certain” to leave this summer amid the club eyeing two young shot-stoppers as potential replacements.
Bayındır has had a rocky time at United, conceding 20 goals in the 10 games he’s started. In those 10 games, he has conceded four goals on three separate occasions and made two errors that led to goals. Fans have branded his recent performance against West Ham as yet another “horrible” display.
After being signed by Erik ten Hag for £4.3 million, the goalkeeper has not done enough at the club, and now several names are linked with replacing him.
Who could fill Bayindir’s spot?
Stone went on to discuss some of the options United could explore in their replacement for Bayındır. In recent weeks United have been linked to goalkeepers like Torino’s Vanja Milinković-Savić and Parma’s Zion Suzuki but Stone mentioned three different names.
Firstly, Stone addressed the players already involved with the club. Stone reaffirmed that veteran goalkeeper Tom Heaton will also leave the club when his contract expires in the summer, despite rumours of a new contract on the horizon.
Stone also mentioned bringing in “good young goalkeepers in Elyh Harrison and Hubert Graczyk” who have spent this season in United’s Academy.
Graczyk joined United’s academy from Aresnals in September and since then has made three appearances for the under-21s. Despite being 22 years old Graczyk has made the joint third most appearances in goal for the under-21s behind Harrison and Dermot Mee.
Harrison is only 19 years old but has received a significantly larger amount of game time this season. He has started eight games for the under-21s and spent the first half of the season on loan at non-league side Chester FC, where he started 18 games.
Despite being the younger of the pair, Harrison currently feels like the more promising prospect and the more likely to be called up to the first team.
Stone also threw a new name into the ring: “Antwerp’s Senne Lammens is a name I hear quite often, so I wouldn’t be surprised if United go for him.” The 22-year-old Lammen was Antwerp’s main goalkeeper this season, and he helped them qualify for the league’s championship round.
With Heaton and Bayindir looking certain to depart, two goalkeepers could join the first team, one from the academy and one brought into the club.
If this is what transpires, then the two most likely options currently seem to be a promotion for Elyh Harrison and the purchase of a backup, either the seasoned Milinkovic-Savic or the Belgian prospect Lammens.
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