Monday night’s defeat to Wolves highlighted further squad improvements are needed this January if Manchester United are to secure a place inside the top four this season.
At present, United find themselves four points off the Champions League places meaning a big showing in the second half of the campaign is needed.
Not only will manager Ralf Rangnick be looking to add reinforcements, but he will also be keen to bring in profiles that can quickly adapt to his footballing ideologies.
To do this, he may look to the Bundesliga, given his wealth of experience operating within Germany’s top tier, and due to the similarities the division shares with the Premier League in terms of style.
With that in mind, we've put together a list of five players from the Bundesliga that United could potentially target this month, or in the summer.
Ridle Baku - Wolfsburg - 23 - RB
Baku originally rose to prominence at Mainz as a high-energy box-to-box midfielder, yet his skill set has adapted excellently into a right-wing-back role and that’s where he predominantly features for Wolfsburg.
He’s regularly rotated between right-back and right-wing with little in the way of drop off in performance levels.
The 23-year-old is reliable in defence, and a speedy tricky attacker going forward. Last season he bagged six league goals and a further six assists. Now an established German international, this season he’s on two league goals and two assists so far.
David Raum - Hoffenheim - 23 - LB
Raum is a versatile player who has played on the left-wing, as a central midfielder and even as a centre-forward in the past. However, he’s now firmly established as a left-back.
He was one of the standout performers in Bundesliga II last season, registering a league-high 15 assists and helping Furth secure promotion.
He joined Hoffenheim on the back of that impressive campaign and has hit the ground running in Germany’s top tier. He has five league assists to date and boasts the highest Expected Assist (xA) total in the division 6.44.
Denis Zakaria - Borussia Mönchengladbach - 25 - CM
Zakaria is a robust dominating midfielder with a profile that United sorely miss.
He's got a great engine which is enhanced by an imposing physical profile - he stands at 6ft 3in.
The 25-year-old is a master of sitting in front of a defence and breaking up opposition attacks, yet he'll also often be used in a more box-to-box role, relied upon to get on the ball and drive his team up the pitch.
From all Bundesliga midfielders with five or more league starts this season, he has the sixth-highest average in terms of progressive runs made per 90 (1.81)
Taiwo Awoniyi - Union Berlin - 24 - FW
Awoniyi is a former Liverpool forward who didn’t quite make the cut with the Merseysiders. He’s enjoying life in Germany though and highlighting himself as one of the division's better strikers.
He’s big, strong, holds the ball up and links well with teammates inside the final third. Most importantly though, he’s showing a real eye for goal and has netted 14 times across all competitions so far this season.
Christopher Nkunku - RB Leipzig - 24 - FW
Nkunku joined Leipzig from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2019 and has been a huge success in Germany ever since, registering 27 goals and 37 assists in just 109 appearances for the Bundesliga outfit.
He’s a dangerous and versatile dribbler who is right-footed but plays different roles across Leipzig’s attack. His record highlights how he’s a threat in terms of not just scoring goals but also creating them.
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