Mason Mount’s latest acquisition appears to have turned Manchester United’s attention to acquiring a new striker and a new custodian, with Erik ten Hag ostensibly looking to bolster the back end of his tenure this summer.

United are now in talks with Inter Milan to try and reach a deal for Cameroonian custodian Andre Onana, having reportedly made an offer of roughly €50m (£43m) for the 27-year-old. A £50m bid for Atalanta marksman Rasmus Hojlund is reportedly in the works.

Onana, who previously worked with Ten Hag at Ajax, appears to be being lined up to replace the veteran Spanish custodian in the goalies, David De Gea, whose long-term future is still in question.

The 6-foot-3 ace, who played for Inter and advanced to the Champions League final last season, has impressed in especially because of his skill with the ball. Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, called him “exceptional” in that area prior to the European championship.

The fact that the towering jewel rates in the top 11% among his European counterparts for touches made as a sign of exactly how at ease he is in possession, in contrast to De Gea, who ranks in only the bottom 30%, speaks volumes about his ball-playing prowess.

Inter Milan’s Andre Onana
Next season, the Red Devils will be able to start playing out from the back effectively thanks to the addition of the Serie A star. Club legend Paul Scholes once said that De Gea “makes the whole team nervous” when he tries to use his feet.

Axel Disasi, who is reportedly a target for the Premier League team this summer, might prove to be an ideal match at the heart of the defence because Onana will require players ahead of him who are similarly as ease in possession.

Axel Disasi is how good?

In Ten Hag’s defensive lineup, the 6 foot 3 centre defender may be a significant improvement over club captain Harry Maguire, who has recently been referred to as “a walking disaster” by journalist Samuel Luckhurst and was only allowed to make eight league starts the previous season.

The 30-year-old Englishman, who has been linked with a move away from the Theatre of Dreams, has recently been very uneasy while attempting to play out, most notably getting into difficulty in the dreadful Europa League loss to Sevilla earlier this year.

Disasi, on the other hand, shouldn’t encounter any difficulties in that regard; the impressive “hidden gem” – as talent scout Jacek Kulig praised him – ranks in the top 4% of players in his position in Europe’s top five leagues for both progressive passes and progressive carries, demonstrating his willingness to launch offences from a distance.

That stands in stark contrast to Maguire’s performance over the past 365 days, according to FBref, where the former Leicester City player only ranks in the top 19% for progressive carries and the bottom 47% for progressive passes after at times appearing to be unsuited to a more progressive style of play.

The danger-spotting skills of Disasi, who ranks in the top 14% for interceptions made while Maguire only rates in the top 38% for that same metric, would also be advantageous to Onana and United as a whole.

That would suggest that bringing in the 25-year-old, who is said to be worth over €50 million (£43 million), could be the ideal solution for Ten Hag before the start of the following campaign, assisting in the quicker adoption of a more fluid style of play.