The players who could solve Manchester United's midfield problems

David Moyes was always going to be faced with a mammoth task to follow in the footsteps of Sir Alex Ferguson, and that task grew even larger during the summer transfer window when he failed to land any of his major transfer targets that – if rumours are to be believed – included the likes of Cesc Fabregas and a certain Cristiano Ronaldo.

The issue that Moyes has had is that he’s inherited a team of Champions, but they’re far from the best United squad to have graced the Premier League. Sure, there are stars in the line-up like Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney, but the midfield in particular is very thin in terms of quality, ball winners, creativity and goals.

We’re now more than a quarter of the way through the season and the yellow balls, tights, and gloves have come out before any of Michael Carrick, Anderson, Tom Cleverley, Ryan Giggs or £27.5m signing Marouane Fellaini – United’s regular central midfielders – have found the net.

Now we’re closing in on the January transfer window, the rumours about who David Moyes will bring in to resolve the midfield dilemma at Old Trafford are gathering pace with some far more likely than others. Can anyone really see Andres Iniesta leaving the Nou Camp for Old Trafford? There’s probably more chance of Ryan Giggs signing for Liverpool.

Some players being mentioned are quite possible, including the likes of Sami Khedira. The German midfielder was believed to have been a deadline day target for David Moyes but the paperwork would not have gone through before a deal could be agreed. It’s rumored that Real Madrid were happy to do business with United for the holding midfielder who would prove to be the perfect foil for Michael Carrick in the engine room.

However, the holding midfielder damaged his anterior cruciate ligament while on international duty and he could now been ruled out for the remainder of the 2013/14 season, a blow for his own World Cup hopes and a massive blow for Moyes.

So with Iniesta already a no-go and Khedira seemingly ruled out until the start of next season at the earliest, what does the Scot do this January? There are a number of targets out there who have been mentioned previously, and it might be that United go back in for those previous targets or maybe look to someone new.

One name might be the tenacious Roma midfielder Kevin Strootman. The Dutchman was strongly linked with a move to Old Trafford for the whole of Sir Alex Fergusons’ final season in charge but the club either opted against making a bid or this was nothing more than a rumour that refused to go away and he ended up making a move to Serie A.

This could be viewed as a move that put him into the shop window, or it could be that Roma have signed him to cover for the loss of Daniele de Rossi, who has been linked with a move to “bigger” clubs for several years now but has so far opted to stay faithful to his hometown club.

An alternative could be for United to return to Basque country in an attempt to finalise the deal for Bilbao midfielder Ander Herrera. The Spaniard has been righly rated throughout Spain but remains a relative unknown overseas with many questioning whether he’d be a good fit for United who failed with a deadline day bid in the summer because of paperwork.

It’s no secret that David Moyes has to do something about his midfield, with United being dominated by sides with stronger partnerships in the centre of the park – such as the Fernandinho-Toure combination at the Etihad across the city. They need two players ideally, someone to fight for the ball, and someone to use it.

At present, they have Michael Carrick and potentially Phil Jones who played very well in the recent game with Arsenal, but neither are going to contribute with the goals that the likes of Toure, Lampard and Gerrard have.

“The next Paul Scholes” is a necessity at Old Trafford and Moyes needs to show that, like Ferguson, he can find a gem from the academy or attract the biggest names to Old Trafford.