Manchester United have a solution for midfield weakness thanks to £1million signing

Manchester United have a solution for midfield weakness thanks to £1million signing

Man Utd did not strengthen Ruben Amorim's midfield options with a new signing in the summer transfer window.

United signed Sekou Kone last summer.

Manchester United sent enquiries to sign a midfielder this summer, but they ended the transfer window without strengthening that area. Many have been left wondering whether that will be costly.

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United sources claim the midfield was never a priority because the club already had options that it views as strong and versatile.

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Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro, Manuel Ugarte, Mason Mount and Kobbie Mainoo are the options and Ruben Amorim must manoeuvre the first part of the season with his resources.

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Toby Collyer could have provided extra midfield cover, but Amorim allowed the youngster to join West Brom on a season-long loan after deciding he would not receive adequate minutes.

Unless United reach the FA Cup quarter-finals this season, the 2025/26 campaign will see them play the fewest number of games in a season since 1914/15 (excluding seasons impacted by war).

That is due to the failure to qualify for European football and crashing out of the Carabao Cup against Grimsby last week. United will not enter the FA Cup until after Christmas, which means they only have Premier League fixtures from now until the January transfer window swings open for business.

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Although club figures say signing a new midfielder was not the priority because of their 'strong' options, it feels like a calculated decision was made based on fixtures and finances.

United have just 16 Premier League games before the January window. The board has looked at Fernandes, Casemiro, Ugarte, Mount and Mainoo and decided there is enough there to roll the dice.

There is also a belief that Sekou Kone could have a first-team impact before the end of the season. Kone did play a single minute during the United States tour, but staff believe he could eventually contribute.

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Kone with Jason Wilcox after signing for United in August 2024.

It seems doubtful Kone will make any impact in the first half of the season, though. The youngster has been on the cusp of the first-team and needs more time in training to make a solid case to Amorim.

Kone started for the Under-21s against Tamworth in the National League Cup last month and sustained a head injury. Kone was taken to hospital and the game had to be abandoned with no replacement ambulance available.

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The midfielder stayed in the hospital overnight but was discharged in the morning. Kone has been described as "fine" by a source and he will return to grass imminently, so he could possibly feature in behind-closed-doors U21 friendlies against the PFA and Aston Villa during the international break.

United paid around £1million to sign Kone from Malian club Guidars FC. He was scouted with a view to progressing to the first-team and the deal was low risk considering the fee.

The Manchester Evening News revealed in April that Kone had settled into life in Manchester partly thanks to Tommy Rowe, who underwent intensive French lessons to communicate with him.

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Travis Binnion (Under-21 manager) also took French lessons, but Binnion credited Rowe with pushing particularly hard to learn a new language.

Rowe was appointed in an academy player-coach role last year. Sources have said he is the best United have had in the hybrid academy position, which has previously been held by Paul McShane and Tom Huddlestone.

Kone picked up a head injury against Tamworth. (Image: 2025 Manchester United FC)

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Fans wanted a glimpse of Kone in pre-season in the USA. They felt he could show his talent and potentially make a case for first-team minutes, but Amorim did not use him in any of the friendlies.

Kone still has a long way to go and has been on a steep learning curve since his arrival in England. He has been forced to put on muscle, get up to speed with the intensity and improve his positional understanding.

Earlier this year, Binnion told the MEN: "He’s a good player and we have high expectations for him, and any player we sign, you want to have those expectations, otherwise you go away and you aren’t signing a good player. You can see with the lads in the first-team, the level of expectation is high.

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"But the reward is high and our lads have to be ready, maybe sooner than other big clubs, which is a real positive for players in the academy, but it’s hard, it’s not easy, is it?

"He has trained with the first-team quite a lot now, but as you can see tonight and the games he’s played recently, a big part of his development is the games.

"And it’s a healthier part of our first-team in that position, and the demands on that position are really high, whereas a forward player, they can maybe make more mistakes and experiment a bit more.

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"The games are really important for them to get used to, the style of play, the intensity of English football and just for him to make better decisions day in, day out, in each of the games, whereas if he didn’t play games and only dropped in now and again, I think you’d see a slower rate of development.

"A lot of [academy] players train with the first-team a lot because they’re further along in their development. He does train with the first-team, but he needs to make sure he’s developing his own game, so when he goes full-time with the first-team, he’s in the right space."

United hope Kone can improve quickly enough to contribute to the first-team this season. But Kone will not be rushed because he was signed last summer with the long-term future in mind.

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