Manchester United have shortlisted three Premier League-proven defensive targets for this January, reports claim, with Brentford’s Nathan Collins and Calvin Bassey of Fulham joining Everton stalwart Jarrad Branthwaite in a group which could be under Mauricio Pochettino’s watch in the new year.

Regardless of the figure prowling the technical area at Old Trafford, United clearly need defensive reinforcements. The club haven’t spent money on a defender in more than two years and Michael Carrick has named the exact same back four which began Erik ten Hag’s opening match of the 2022–23 season.

Lisandro Martínez’s future at the club would appear precarious after publicly taking aim at Jason Wilcox, the sporting director who has failed to recruit a single player to compete with the Argentine. Should the World Cup winner move on in January—which would be the last chance for United to cash in on a player who will be out of contract next summer—there would be even more necessity to bolster the rearguard.

In keeping with the club’s recent business, United are targeting Premier League operators, with the three center backs of Collins, Bassey and Branthwaite cited by the Daily Mail. There’s plenty of overlap between these targets, with some key differences.

Profiles Snapshot

Which Target Would Suit Pochettino’s Man Utd Best?

All three center backs are towering, physical, experienced Premier League operators, the sort of rugged fleshy figures which United’s defense lacks outside of Harry Maguire and the perennially injured Matthijs de Ligt. Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven both have potential—Carrick has insisted as much despite their chronic run of blunders—but two 20-year-olds can hardly be blamed for wilting under the weight of a tumbling giant.

Collins has proven to have a character capable of weathering a storm. Back in December 2023, the Republic of Ireland international was at fault for two calamitous goals in a 4–1 humbling at the hands of his former employers, Wolverhampton Wanderers. “It will never be worse than this,” Brentford’s then-manager Thomas Frank told his crestfallen youngster.

When the Bees faced Wolves in the FA Cup less than a month later, Collins scored. Within a year and a half, the center back had been made club captain.

The 25-year-old is an ever present for the Bees when fit, marshalling a well-drilled defensive unit which is flexible enough to push up the field when required or drop off into a compact shape if the occasion calls for it. That ability to adapt to a high line could be key for Pochettino, whose best work has always come with high pressing units.

This is an area where Jarrad Branthwaite falls down, though through little fault of his own.

Everton do not have a proactive approach, ranking among one of the least aggressive pressing sides in the Premier League under David Moyes’s patented compact system. Having a figure as aerially dominant as the 6'5" Branthwaite is a cherished commodity on Merseyside.

Bassey is four inches shorter and not nearly as successful with the ball off the ground. However, the Nigeria international has proven himself to be a profficient progressive passer under the stewardship of Álvaro Arbeloa and his quest to transform Fulham’s entire style of play.

Arbeloa has leaned heavily upon Bassey’s ever-widening skillset during his first few months in west London and publicly appealed for Fulham to extend his contract. “For me, right now, he’s one of the best center backs, not just in the Premier League, in the world,” the former Real Madrid manager gushed earlier this season.

Branthwaite isn’t particularly scared of the ball himself and boasts the added bonus of being almost perfectly two-footed, giving him the benefit of filling that left-hand spot which Martínez may vacate in January.

All three options have their own strengths, but Collins is the one to cover the broadest range of categories, offering comfort in and out of possession while demonstrating some of those ephemeral intangibles off the pitch.