I ran the numbers to work out whether Man Utd’s Bundesliga target will make them better

It’s pretty exhausting work trying to keep up with every player that Manchester United have been linked with a transfer bid for since Ruben Amorim took charge – especially when most of the stories circulating around Old Trafford will prove to be wide of the mark. One of the more plausible rumours currently doing the rounds, however, focusses on a potential move for Bayern Munich and Austria utility man Konrad Laimer.

The Daily Mail and Bild are among the media outlets carrying the claim that United will make a move for the 27-year-old, who can play both as a right wing-back or as a defensive midfielder. With United short on quality and depth in both positions, signing a player like Laimer would seem to make a fair amount of sense – although none of the reports seem to have a ballpark figure for a transfer fee.

Laimer has respectable (but not exceptional) pace and is noted for his sky-high work rate, but does he have the extra cutting edge required to improve Manchester United? We dug down into the stats to work out whether he would be worth making a move for.

In the engine room

A truly versatile player, Laimer plays on the right just as often as he sets up through the middle and could feature in either role for Amorim – as such, it’s best to compare his output in both positions to the current options at the Portuguese manager separately to come to a conclusion as to whether he would improve United’s team.

The table below show us how he compares to United’s current crop of defensive midfielders across fundamental statistical metrics from his games over the past year, and it shows Laimer as a jack-of-all-trades who wouldn’t be a better defender, passer or ball-carrier compared to his potential rivals for a place in the team – but who doesn’t have any significant weaknesses either.

The raw data, of course, doesn’t show off a player who has the tenacity and stamina to keep putting hard yards under his boots for the whole 90 minutes, and it’s hard to imagine him being guilty of many of the lapses of concentration that Casemiro has been responsible for over the past 18 months.

Still, it’s hard to make a case for Laimer as a better all-round player than Ugarte (even if the Uruguayan has yet to find his best form at Old Trafford) or Mainoo, who has some development to do but is already a more dynamic player whose ball-carrying skills give United an extra dimension when progressing the ball upfield. As a defensive midfielder, Laimer looks like a good depth option but not necessarily a regular starter – especially if Ugarte can get back to his best.

Down the flank

As a wing-back, Laimer wouldn’t be able to offer the same sort of sheer speed as a player like Amad Diallo, but it may be the case that his experience and graft would make up for that – the question is whether he could adapt to the more aggressive, attacking role that Amorim’s wing-backs play. Under the Portuguese coach’s system, they are rather more wing than back.

A similar table shows that Laimer is considerably better at getting the ball down the flank under his own steam than Diogo Dalot or Nouassir Mazraoui – progressive carries, incidentally, are runs of 10 yards or more, or into the box, and are differentiated from successful dribbles as a defender doesn’t need to be beaten – while also being equally solid in his defensive duties.

Equally, Amad Diallo is way ahead of Laimer as a dribbler and as a creator, which is arguably the most important element of a wing-back’s game given the way Amorim sets up. The direct comparison is a little unfair, as Diallo has played more games as a winger and as such will have inflated numbers in the final third compared to the others, who have operated as more traditional full-backs – and the sample size is smaller, as evinced by the fact that Diallo didn’t attempt a single cross last season. Laimer and Dalot’s crossing success rate are both comfortably above average, incidentally.

So Laimer is probably a better option down the right flank than the traditional full-backs currently in the squad, but it’s perfectly possible that Diallo’s qualities as a wide forward will serve him better under Amorim that Laimer’s graft would – and Diallo is certainly quicker, which helps.

The conclusion

Laimer would, ultimately, be a fine depth piece for United and his energy levels and well-rounded game mean that he would probably see plenty of play. He wouldn’t necessarily make an enormous difference on his own and would be more of a squad player than someone who pushes the team to the next level, but he does a lot of things well and would effectively fill two spots on the team, even if he may not be the best option for either.

Which suggests that a reasonably-priced transfer would be an entirely respectable idea, but Laimer probably isn’t worth an especially substantial amount of money – and given that he is under contract with Bayern until 2027, he probably wouldn’t come cheap.

Bild’s report also suggests that Laimer doesn’t plan to leave Bayern, not that players often say anything different in public. This may be a transfer deal the player isn’t interested in and in which it would be hard to find a valuation that suits both sides – but still, it might give Amorim the depth, quality and work ethic he needs to build bids for trophies across multiple competitions. All that remains is to see whether interest develops into a concrete offer, and then whether Laimer himself wants to make the move.