Louis Van Gaal sees Juan Mata as a defensive liability, looking at a swap deal for Miranda or Strootman in January

There is no doubt Juan Mata is one of the most influential player for Manchester United.  Scoring 9 goals in 20 appearances for Manchester United.  But his fortunes at the club is in serous doubt after United were crushed by Leicester City 5-3 and one of the counter attacking goals was scored due to his slip on the grass.  He was quoted by Stuart Fraser of the Daily Mail as a liability to this Manchester United team.

"Jose Mourinho offloaded Mata from Chelsea because he couldn't add to the team effort, defensively at least. Louis van Gaal feels the same way."

Atletico Madrid was the first team that drew interest on Juan Mata and Manchester United certainly welcome such idea as they need a centre back to fill out United's shaky back line at the moment.  Miranda is a world class centre back.  He is on the older side of his career at 30 years of age, but defenders usually don't hit their prime until they are around 28 years old, so there are still plenty of goof years ahead.  He would have the perfect experience to conduct the inexperience defence.  The most experienced defender in the current Manchester United squad.

Having played in Atletico Madrid's defensive philosophy, Miranda would certainly be able to fit into Louis Van Gaal's defensive philosophy.  The following is a detailed analysis of Atletico Madrid's defensive philosophy.  



Although Atletico is seemingly playing a similar style to Chelsea, essentially parking the bus against Barcelona in the 2nd legg of the 2014 Champions League Semi Final.  Chelsea used a similar tactic against Barcelona in the 2nd legg of the 2012  Semi Final.  Putting 11 men behind the ball and hitting Barcelona on the counter attack.



This is by no means suggesting that Manchester United should park the bus, but Van Gaal needs to purchase a player like Miranda to be able to conduct and execute the defensive tactivs that Van Gaal wants the team to perform.

Miranda would also make a good pairing with Argentinean centre back Marcos Rojo, who recently joined Manchester United from Sporting Lisbon on a £16 plus the loan of Luis Nani who was originally signed from Sporting.back in 2007.

Manchester United also had long been linked to Roma defensive midfielder Kevin Strootman.  It was reported by Stuart Fraser that  that a swap deal for the Dutch international is very much a possibility.

"I've been speaking to a number of agents around Europe, and it's pretty clear to me Juan Mata will be offered in part-exchange for Roma's Kevin Strootman in the January window."

Strootman would bring united the toughness of a Roy Keane and the play making ability of a Paul Scholes.  It is very much the best of both worlds for Manchester United if the club could indeed buy him in January



Whichever player Manchester United would be able to sign in January, it would surly be an upgrade in the centre back position compared with what the club currently have in the team.  Manchester United's philosophy is not just about playing home grown players, but being able to buy players that would give everything they have to help the club succeed, that is the philosophy of Manchester United.  They just never, ever give up.