Which United Players Could Kean Be After?

At least one of Manchester United’s young squad players could be about to join Blackburn Rovers on loan in the coming weeks in order to gain more Premier League experience this coming season.

It would be fair to say that Steve Kean in charge of Rovers this coming season is certainly under pressure from the team’s owners Venkey’s to better last season’s finish of 15^th so clearly reinforcements are needed in order to try and strengthen the squad.

Most neutrals might have felt that relations between United and Rovers might be somewhat ‘frosty’ due to Phil Jones’ move to Old Trafford this summer, but Kean has denied that and is hopeful that a deal for at least one player can be reached:

“I had a chat with Sir Alex after Paul Scholes’s testimonial about a couple of players and that is ongoing. I don’t want to name names because I want to be respectful of Manchester United and Sir Alex,” said the Rovers manager.

“We have a good relationship. He has taken one of our players [Jones]. I saw him at the Premier League managers meeting as well and hopefully we can keep that relationship up and if we do want to loan a player then he will be complimentary to what we are trying to do. I don’t want to name names but the loan market is definitely something we can look at.”

So just who in United’s squad potentially could Kean have spoken to Sir Alex about, here are the candidates.

Darron Gibson

After his move to Sunderland broke down, the midfielder has been frozen out of the squad and a move (permanent/loan) has been on the cards ever since. There is no doubt the Irishman has the talent and drive to be a good Premier League midfielder.

He clearly has a good shot on him, but as we have seen in the last 18 months or so needs to improve his all-round game if he is going to develop further. It looks as though he might not make it long-term at Old Trafford, but there’s no reason why he can’t become a star elsewhere.

Mame Diouf

The Senegalese forward spent last season on loan at Rovers so would slot in comfortably straight away. He might have only scored 6 goals last season (3 in the league) but he has looked sharp in pre-season and clearly wants to build on his efforts last year.

Another spell at Ewood Park would surely better his game even more which could probably lead to a permanent move there. Blackburn are certainly short of numbers up front and he would certainly be a good option for them.

Fedrico Macheda

The man, who scored not just one brilliant goal against Aston Vila but two, could defiantly do with more first team experience last season. There is no doubt he has something ‘special’ about him and he’s somebody the Old Trafford faithful would love to see become a first-team star.

The odds though are against this happening and he needs to be playing regularly in order to gain the understanding of the league so that he can step up and become the type of forward at United that he wishes to be.

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If I were to guess which player Kean would most likely to be able to bring into his club from United, it would probably be Gibson as he would defiantly compliment Rovers’ midfield which is an area of the pitch where they struggled last season.

However you get the feeling from his quotes, that he might be able to borrow another player from Sir Alex as well. Diouf would probably be the easier to get but there’s no reason why Kean couldn’t lash out the funds to buy him – after all Venkey’s are not short of money. It’s not as if he doesn’t know what the Senegalese forward can bring to the team so why in that respect would he want to ‘try’ again with him.

Arguably Macheda is someone who needs a loan deal more. But after his frustration out on loan at Sampdoria where in a team that unsuccessfully battled relegation, he got few chances to shine, you cannot help but get the sense Sir Alex is wary of putting the Italian in a similar environment this season and wants to see him develop at Carrington this season. 

By Adam Dennehey @ADennehey87