How Daniel James Will Fit into Solskjaer’s Manchester United | Starting XI, Formation & Tactics

How will Daniel James will fit into Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United, discussing the potential starting XI, formations and tactics of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer new look Man Utd. Daniel James has become Man Utd’s first signing of the Ole Gunnar Solskjær era, but who is the Welsh winger?

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When Marcelo Bielsa thinks highly of a player, you have to take notice. The Argentine innovator was dead set on bringing Swansea’s Dan James into his Leeds since in January last season, but the move broke down at the last minute. Rather than sulk, James – according to Ryan Giggs and Graham Potter – handled the disappointment admirably and finished the 2018/2019 season in fine form, even bagging his first senior goal for Wales.

That spell towards the back of the season and Ryan Giggs’ recommendation seemingly peaked the interests of Manchester United, with Solskjær making the blisteringly quick youngster his first signing as Utd boss. He’ll join Man Utd’s plethora of attacking options: Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford, Alexis Sanchez, Anthony Martial, Mason Greenwood, Romelu Lukaku, Jesse Lingard and Tahith Chong for the upcoming 19/20 season.

Daniel James is incredibly quick, yes, but he’s so much more than that. He’s a great presser, versatile, excellent at carrying counter-attacks and has a very mature shot selection for a player of his age. In fact, he averaged more shots from inside the box last season than any other non-centre forward in the Championship. His underlying shot numbers profile very similarly to Tammy Abraham’s, which bodes well for the future.

James offers Man Utd tactical flexibility too. He could be used to make an impact against tired legs off the bench, he could be deployed on that rather vacant right flank, or he could be played as a left winger with Anthony Martial moving inside and playing as a centre forward. One thing is for sure, Man Utd have been lacking natural width in recent seasons and in that sense the move to bring in James makes a lot of sense. We’ve seen the likes of James Maddison come into the Premier League from the second tier and make a huge impact, and Man Utd will be hoping that Dan James can replicate that.

That “Young, hungry British players” profile that we’ve seen spoken about seems to be proved at least party true with the signing of Daniel James, and it’ll be interesting to see how Ole Gunnar Solskjær deploys the Welshman next season.

How do you expect the youngster to do in his first season at Old Trafford?

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