Ramos, Varane and the potential solutions to Manchester United's centre-back problems

With the end of the season fast approaching, planning has begun at Manchester United for the next campaign and how Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can take his team from title challengers to real contenders.

Manchester City look set to run away with the 2020-21 Premier League trophy but United’s results - and some of their performances - this season have shown that perhaps with a couple of tweaks they could have what it takes to properly push for top spot.

There are arguments for strengthening in a number of positions but, with Covid-19 affecting finances, the club will unlikely be able to fund every single one of their targets.

One of the main priorities is a centre-back. Victor Lindelof has come under fire for his performances in recent weeks and there is not enough depth in the position. 

Solskjaer admitted ahead of his side’s clash against Chelsea this weekend that he wants to see defensive improvements from the whole team.

“We know we have scored a lot of goals and of course we need to be a better team defensively,” Solskjaer said. “We have conceded too many goals so we need to improve on that and winning tighter games.”

It is understood, therefore, that United are in the market for a central defender this summer. Here, Goal analyses the names they’ve looked at in the past, a wild card and a few candidates for the future to potentially solve their defensive dilemmas.

Also considered are a couple of in-house solutions should United fail to get the deal done.