When Manchester United sealed the £50m signing of Aaron Wan-Bissaka in July 2019, few United supporters would have been anything but positive. The club was bringing in an exciting young full back – just named Palace’s Player of the Year – to fill a problem position in the lineup, which had seen two aging wingers fill the role in recent years.
However, what became apparent over the subsequent seasons was that Aaron was the victim of a familiar fate at Old Trafford – a good player being brought into the wrong situation. Wan-Bissaka’s arrival was part of a supposed ‘new dawn’ at United.
Off the back of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s remarkable interim spell in 18/19, the club aimed to build the team around a core of British players. Harry Maguire and Dan James were also brought in, while Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard – remember him? – and Mason Greenwood provided a prolific British core in attack.
From the off, Wan-Bissaka’s strengths were apparent. His clever positioning and no nonsense tackling made him a fan favourite early on. The fee may have been eye watering, but the performances kept coming. None more memorable than December 2019’s MOTM performance in a 2-1 away win at Manchester City.
As the wheels came off Solskjaer’s time in charge, Wan Bissaka could at least console himself in being one of the few consistent performers in the XI. You knew what you were getting with Aaron and he was good at it, but it was the arrival of another interim that set his time at Old Trafford on a downward trajectory.
Ralf Ragnick took charge at the club following Solskjaer’s dismissal in November 2021 and he brought with him new ideas on how the team should play. Full backs were no longer just there to defend, but would now be expected to play a vital role in attacking phases.
What became apparent early on with Ragnick – and subsequently with Erik Ten Hag – is Aaron couldn’t offer the level of attacking threat required to be effective in such systems. While not as naturally gifted a defender, Portugal’s Diogo Dalot was proving a more well rounded option at full back for a team looking to utilise attacking full backs.
For comparison, to date, Dalot has provided a 36% increase in goal contributions over Wan-Bissaka across their spells at United. It is a vital part of modern football which unfortunately Aaron seemed unable to adapt his game to, despite best efforts.
His defending would often become affected as he chased back frantically from sprints up the field. This led to him being uncharacteristically out of position a lot in his latter spell at the club.
He may not be suited to Manchester United right now – I can hear the cries of ‘who is?!’ – but Aaron Wan-Bissaka is too good a defender to sit on the bench. Few supporters will have any ill-feelings towards him because he was never the type of player you could actively dislike. Never spoke out or caused issues. He just played football.
I often turned to my wife last season to point out how Wan-Bissaka would be a great fit for West Ham. Despite the change in manager since then I still believe the Hammers have landed themselves a brilliant signing at a very reasonable price. I wish him only the best.
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