Paul Parker has urged Manchester United to sign former Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher.
United are in the market for a new central midfielder but failed in their attempt to sign Brighton’s Carlos Baleba in the summer transfer window.
Baleba remains on United’s radar alongside Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson and Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton.
But Parker believes Gallagher, who is in his second season with Atletico Madrid following his £33 million move from Chelsea last year, would be the perfect addition to Ruben Amorim’s midfield.
‘I think you can’t rush it, you can’t just go and get a big clump of players,’ Parker said in an interview with UtdDistrict.
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‘If you’re looking to take it forward slowly and you want to do something, you have to have something in the back end that you look to build on, you look to build on with that person coming in on loan, or you see you get someone on loan who does well, you get that calibre of player to come in, get it cemented in, then Conor is the one.
‘He’s the one player I think they need. One player who plays a lot of football, doesn’t get injured often, and is willing to play. I’ve watched him many a times when he was at Palace and when he was at Chelsea and every time you see him grimacing, the lad wants to play games of football.
‘If he doesn’t play, it’s a good reason. Even if he’s had a knock, he wants to play football. And I know that if he comes to Manchester United, that would be the cherry on the top.’
Parker also believes that United should allow Harry Maguire to leave Old Trafford when his contract expires at the end of the season.
‘I mean, they’ve been talking about Harry Maguire, and I think it would be foolhardy of them to allow sentiment to get in the way of other players progressing,’ said Parker.
‘When you’ve got [Lisandro] Martinez sitting there to come back, and then you’ve got [Ayden] Heaven, and then you’ve got [Leny] Yoro, you don’t need another centre half, especially in the way he’s playing. You don’t need Harry Maguire there, because that’s going to stop a Yoro improving.
‘It’s going to stop Heaven looking to fight against a Yoro for a regular place. You need to look to the future and build, and you’re looking to build around De Ligt at the moment.
‘Use his experience to pass on to those lads to then try and make a player, to try and get someone to be as good as De Ligt, as what he was at 20 years of age, playing in the Champions League semi-final. I think that’s the main one, really.
‘You can’t allow sentiment to get in the way of a decision. You have to make a decision, not for that one player, but for the majority. And if it’s for the majority, Harry Maguire won’t be missed.’
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