Man Utd re-signing Paul Pogba would be ridiculous - but this £66m midfield gem could join instead

It won’t have escaped the notice of anybody who’s watched Manchester United since Ruben Amorim took charge that midfield has become a genuine problem position for the club, albeit a problem of their own making.

Amorim’s two-man midfield system simply doesn’t suit the players he has access to. Casemiro is slowing down and can’t cover the ground required. Manuel Ugarte has struggled for fitness. Kobbie Mainoo is better suited to a three-man midfield where proximity to team-mates gets the most out of his gift for short-distance ball-carrying. As it is, the midfielder United have (when actually fit) are being asked to cover too much ground and the qualities that their players do have are being stretched too thin.

So it makes sense that United are being linked with some fresh blood in the middle of the park – and also some old blood, as it happens, with a story in the Spanish media suggesting that the Red Devils could bring Paul Pogba back to the club for a third spell as a free agent…

Pogba stories are implausible but better solutions exist

Let’s start with the simple fact that it’s wildly unlikely that Pogba return to Old Trafford. The 31-year-old hasn’t played a competitive match since being released by Juventus in November following a suspension for doping offences. He is still not permitted to train formally until March, when his ban, which was reduced from four years to 18 months on appeal, is lifted.

Spanish transfer website Fichajes have claimed that United have “shown interest” in bringing Pogba back for a reunion that would, depending on your perspective, either be romantic or simply provide the squad with a player who would serve as a constant reminder of the many mistakes the club have made since the Glazers took ownership. Either way, it’s highly unlikely to happen, even with the club desperate for bodies in midfield.

Pogba seems far more likely to play outside of Europe, with a lucrative contract in the MLS – likely with Inter Miami – a far more probable next step for the ever-controversial Frenchman. Given how long it is since he last had a run out it is, in any case, highly unlikely that he would be able to get close to full match fitness in the space of the two months of the season that he would be able to play. Pogba will almost certainly remain a ghost of United’s recent past, and not become a spectre at their present feast.

Even if Pogba was a serious consideration, he’s hardly the type of player that Amorim needs. His requirements are less focused on vision and technical ability than on the capacity to cover large swathes of space effectively, forcing turnovers and recycling possession. He doesn’t need a player like Pogba, but one more like N’Golo Kanté – or, perhaps, Morten Hjulmand.

The Danish midfielder was an unsexy but important cog in Amorim’s machine at Sporting. He doesn’t have a fraction of Pogba’s technical quality or passing range, creates relatively few chances and almost never runs with the ball, but he has energy to burn and runs himself into the ground for the cause – making plenty of tackles and sensible passes along the way.

Recent reporting suggests that not only is he one of a couple of Sporting players on Amorim’s radar but that the Portuguese club are resigned to losing him come the summer, and are willing to negotiate a fee below his €80m (£66.3m) release clause. Whether United, who are in a parlous financial position, can find a suitable price point is unclear, but he fits Amorim’s methods to a tee.

Why Ruben Amorim needs fresh legs

With only two midfielders tasked with handling everything that comes through the middle of the park, a player like Hjulmand is almost essential. To put his work off the ball in comparison to the players United already have, this season the 25-year-old Dane has recovered possession an average of 5.8 times per game in the league – almost 50% more than Mainoo and Casemiro, who sit at 4.0 and 4.1 respectively.

Even more importantly, he covers considerable amounts of ground while having sufficient skill at reading the game to avoid being pulled out of position easily. That’s a rare combination of qualities, and even if he lacks the sheer skill of a player like Mainoo (or Pogba, for that matter), the traits he does have line up with what Amorim’s system asks of his midfielders.

That doesn’t mean it has to be Hjulmand, although his familiarity with Amorim’s tactics and his likely availability will make him a likely candidate for the job – but he provides a useful guideline for the kind of player United’s beleaguered manager needs for his ideas to work properly.

There have been whispers for months now that United could fund another expensive rebuild by selling home-grown players like Mainoo, a move that would probably be deeply unpopular in the Stretford End but which could make a certain amount of sense if United’s top brass are determined to commit themselves to their current coach.

Mainoo shone in a three-man system where his defensive skills weren’t overstretched by the sheer volume of space he had to cover and where his excellence at quick passing interchanges and short-range ball-carrying shone. Without players in close proximity in midfielder, Mainoo is cast adrift – with team-mates close to him, he shines.

So if United aren’t turning back, then selling Mainoo would be a deeply unromantic but perhaps pragmatic way to raise the funds required to reshape the squad in Amorim’s image – not that you wouldn’t find a fair few United supporters who would suggest that such an idea put the club’s priorities in the wrong order.

Still, whether they sign Hjulmand or look elsewhere (and Hjulmand would, after all, only be half of the puzzle) and whether they keep Mainoo or sell him, it’s staggeringly unlikely that Paul Pogba gets a third act in Manchester – and nor would it solve the problems that Amorim has as he tries to steady a ship that’s heading bow-first through a storm and taking on water at an alarming rate.