Josip Juranovic prominent among Manchester United’s right back targets | OneFootball

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The Peoples Person

·13 August 2022

Josip Juranovic prominent among Manchester United’s right back targets

Article image:Josip Juranovic prominent among Manchester United’s right back targets

Manchester United look set to finally prioritise a right back this window, with Josip Juranovic a likely target. That is according to Jonathan Shrager, who earlier tweeted:

“Josip Juranovic features quite prominently on the shortlist of potential right backs who Manchester United may pursue in the event that Aaron Wan-Bissaka goes on loan this month.


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“Max Aarons and Kyle Walker-Peters are amongst some other players believed to be included on that list.”

If the signing of Aaron Wan-Bissaka taught United fans anything it’s that having a big shortlist of players is no guarantee for success. But it would be comforting to know that a player of Juranovic’s profile features highly in United’s considerations.

The Celtic man has only been in Glasgow for a year having made a £2.5m move from Legia Warsaw last summer.

But he has taken to the Scottish Premier League like a duck to water, even featuring in the SPL Team of the Year as Celtic did a league and cup double.

Juranovic was a solid defender last term, contributing with 7.6 ball recoveries per 90 minutes in the league. He is also a deadly crosser of the ball with a 32.32% Crossing accuracy extremely high, especially among fullbacks.

For reference, Trent Alexander-Arnold managed 30.04% for Liverpool last season.

With Erik ten Hag dead-set on getting a physically imposing centre forward, having a crossing aficionado available at right back makes sense.

Juranovic could be a huge boon to Cristiano Ronaldo should he stay and potentially for a player like Sasa Kalajdzic should he join.

The Croatian is also comfortable in settled possession, attempting 70.6 passes per game with an accuracy of 86.39% – again bettering Alexander-Arnold’s 68 and 78.14% respectively.

While Juranovic has achieved these numbers in Scotland and would likely take a period of adaptation, his contributions have also drawn interest from the likes of Chelsea and Atletico Madrid.

With a touted price of £15m, United will need to act fast to secure his signature.

(All stats as per Squawka Comparison Matrix)

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