Patrick Rees
The new Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho did what was expected of him. Soon after his arrival, he identified the major holes in the squad and started working on it. Even in the era of Louis van Gaal, it was understood that a rock solid centre-half is a necessity for the club, hence he signed the former Villarreal man Eric Bailly. And just after the elimination of Sweden from Euro 2016, Zlatan Inrahimovic was introduced globally.
There is no doubt that Manchester United needs an overhaul and what Jose will be doing, will only benefit the club.
Coming on to the point, it is recently reported by Sky Sports that the Devils are currently chasing the 20-year-old Mexican winger Hirving Lozano. The name is surely an unknown figure, but the winger has made his name in the Mexican league all by himself. United are reportedly close on completing the deal and even Pachuca’s (Lozano’s current club) vice-president Andres Fassi announced on Sunday that negotiations between the two clubs were ongoing.
“Already there are negotiations with United – there is still nothing closed though,” he said.
On the other hand, his father-in-law has stated that a deal has already been completed and will be formally announced later this summer.
“It’s all done,” he said. “Just missing some details and then after the Olympics it becomes official.”
The 20-year-old was also a part of the Mexican squad, who played in the Copa America and will also be representing his country in the upcoming Olympics in Rio.
Who is Hirving Lozano?
Lozano joined the Mexican club Pachuca in 2009 as part of its youth team and in 2014, as an 18-year-old, he made his senior debut for the side against Club América. With the score deadlocked at 0-0 and seven minutes left to play, his manager gave him the opportunity to prove himself in what can be called as the biggest test of his career. Lozano got the possession of the ball on the half-way line, and the then 18-year-old started sprinting towards América’s post and in a blink of an eye, he scored the first goal of his senior career.
In his very first season with the club, he made 24 appearances in all competition and bagged five goals. Considered as one of the brightest talents in Mexico, Lozano became a first team regular for the side and in the following season, he made 40 appearances for the side and scored eight goals. He recently completed his third season with the Mexican side and has made 111 appearances so far, scoring 25 goals.
Talking about his international career, Lozano has represented Mexico in U20s and U23s and back in February 2016, he received his first senior call-up. So far, he has made seven appearances for the senior side and has scored one goal.
Style of Play-
Just due to his versatility, Lozano can operate the game from any attacking position, however, he prefers to get deployed on the left wing and the reason being; his ability to dribble past the defenders with ease. Just like Philippe Coutinho, Lozano loves to charge the left side with his pace and with a blink of an eye, he can cut inside the danger area to take a shot. Lozano possesses a powerful shooting ability and due to that, he is capable of testing the keeper quite often in the game, you give him the room, he will punish you like anything.
Just like many youngsters in the industry, Lozano’s primary weapon is his speed and his dribbling abilities. He gave a Masterclass performance in the 2015 CONCACAF U20 tournament where Lozano ended up as the top scorer with 5 goals in 5 games as Mexico lifted the trophy.
There is no doubt that Lozano is a star in the making, but he still needs a polishing and besides that, he needs to work on his inconsistency and his “me” attitude to succeed in the future.
