Why Wesley Sneijder isn't a good fit for Manchester United

Since spearheading Inter Milan's success in the 2009-2010 season, Wesley Sneijder is widely regarded as one of the best midfielders in the World.  A product of the famous Ajax youth academy, Sneijder was hugely successful at Ajax before moving to Real Madrid where things did not go as well for him as he had hoped.  The move to Inter was perfect; the opportunity to line up at the man behind the front the strikers with a couple behind him suited him perfectly but it now appears that the Dutch international is on the cusp of a big money move to Manchester Utd. I do not think however that the move is going to be the success that the majority think.

At the San Siro, Sneijder was allowed to play as the one creative force behind two or three forwards with two holding midfielders doing his defence work for him. The likes of Cambiasso, Zanetti and Motta mongst others did his defending for him. He did not have to come back and clear up and in the majority of instances he did. This was the case with the Dutch national side in the recent World Cup where De Jong and Van Bommel sat behind Sneijder as he looked for a front three that included; Van Persie, Kuyt, Robben, Elia and others. At Utd however this wont be the case. With the partnership that Rooney and Hernandez have formed, Fergie will play the pair together as a two as he did in the Champions League final. The acquisition of Young suggests that Fergie will stuck with a 4-4-2 seeing Valencia on the other flank. Sneijder will therefore have to play as one of two in central midfield a job which will require him to have to do a lot of work going backwards. This simply is not Sneijder's game and will leave Utd open in the middle.

Manchester bound Sneijder

Hernandez, Rooney, Young and Valencia pick themselves in the big games, the addition of Sneijder will simply leave Utd too open and something that Fergie surely wont do. It is unlikely that Fergie will go up front given the partnership that the Rooney and Hernandez have built but he is hardly going to sign a player in Sneijder for £30+million to not play him.

Many see Sneijder as a replacement for the retiring Scholes but they are very different players. Scholes evolved from a box to box 20 goals a season, Lampard, into a deep lying, control the game, Xavi. Sneijder however is not the latter. Modric is a far more natural Scholes replacement as Sneijder wont run the midfield but instead will look to play the killer, the last ball into the forwards.

We might see that Fergie changes approach in the big games with Hernandez upfront with Rooney and Young playing as faux wide strikers and Sneijder just in behind but this leaves the question of the other games whilst it would be a huge shift for a manager who has for so many years gone with the trusted 442.

There is no doubt that Wesley Sneijder is a truly world class midfielder; a midfielder of unparalleled vision and creativity. However, with his move to Old Trafford looking more and more immanent one cant help but think that he may struggle to fit into Fergie's approach but only time will tell.