How Nigeria-eligible winger Shoretire could be Erik ten Hag's new version of Dusan Tadic

Erik ten Hag has his work cut out for him at Manchester United as the squad in in need of a major rebuild due to the underperformance of several top-class players.

The ex-Ajax Amsterdam manager utilizes a 4-3-3 tactical set-up, but it is based around a Juego de Posicion positional play and emphasizes on intense pressing.

This style of play is identical to the system Pep Guardiola makes use of at Manchester City.

For Jeugo De Posición to work flawlessly when attacking, it needs an interior player also known as 'between the lines player'.

During his time at Ajax, Ten Hag specifically made Dušan Tadić his interior player and the Serbian racked up exceptional numbers in goals and assists.

A between the lines player needs to have great balance with the ball at his feet, creativity must be top-notch, speed may not be a necessity but he needs to have a good burst within the first 5-10 metres.

A high level BTL player must also be able to play on the flanks without any significant drop in impact and production.

Profile-wise, the only player in the United first team squad that resembles an interior player is Jadon Sancho. While a case can be argued for Juan Mata, he is a traditional number 10.

Shoretire is a player who has the traits of a natural interior and could be the one to be utilised as Ten Hag's new version of Dusan Tadic.

The England U19 international of Nigerian descent ended the 2021-2022 campaign with eighteen goal involvements (8 goals, 10 assists) from 28 appearances for United's youth teams, and featured twice for the first team.

Shoretire's associative-play is excellent and he is very quick on the turn which is a great asset to have due to compressed spaces in attacking zones.

He will need to improve further on his ball-striking skills but he is already showing good improvement in this department as shown in his output last season.

Sofoluwe Mayowa

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