first season. His second sea-
son would again see him being
left out of the side for long
spells playing just 1543
minutes in 27 games in the
English Premier League.
Herrera has put in numerous
impressive performances in a
Manchester United shirt this
season, stationed in front of
the back four his relentless
pursuit of opposition attackers
allowed Paul Pogba the free-
dom to use his attacking ability
to greater effect.
During his time in Spain with
Atletico Bilbao, Ander Herrera
had been compared with the
likes of Barcelona legend, Xavi,
a player able to orchestrate the
tempo of a football match. Lou-
is Van Gaal did not appear to
see this quality in the Spaniard,
choosing instead to play him
much further up the field as a
No. 10; a decision that would
result in an up-turn in goal out-
put but did not cement his
place as a crucial figure for
United.
Arguably his best game of the
campaign was United’s 2-0
premier league win over Chel-
sea. Herrera followed Chel-
sea’s playmaker, Eden Hazard
all over the pitch, forcing him
into an ineffective wide posi-
tion and frustrating the Belgian
all afternoon. His cool defen-
sive performance was compli-
mented by an outstanding at-
tacking contribution, a sublime
through ball for Marcus Rush-
ford’s opener and a goal of his
own capped off an outstanding
showing.
The arrival of Jose Mourinho at
Old Trafford would see Herrera
finally become the player Man-
chester United fans thought
they were getting back in 2014.
Looking at the Manchester
United team sheet last season,
you may have been drawn to
big names like Zlatan Ibra-
himović, Paul Pogba or Henrikh
Mkhitaryan. From a tactical
viewpoint, however, it can be
argued that Ander Herrera was
one of the most important piec-
es of Jose Mourinho’s puzzle.
Looking at the statistics, Ander
Herrera was one of the leagues
finest midfield players. Herrera
has made more interceptions,
clearances, and blocks respec-
tively than the highly praised
Chelsea midfielder, N’Golo
Kante, despite having played
670 minutes less during the
2016/17 campaign.
Herrera also possesses a high-
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