The challenge of squad building: Identifying and prioritizing what attributes are most important

What we can learn from the Aaron Wan Bissaka vs Diogo Dalot debate

Jun 10, 2025

Author’s Note: I might start calling this “the summer of un-finished thoughts.” I started writing a bunch of different pieces throughout the season that never got finished because work would often pull me away. Now that we’ve got time over the summer I’ve had the chance go back and complete these ideas.

On February 22, 2025 - about an hour and fifteen minutes after Andy Madley blew the full-time whistle at Goodison Park to end Manchester United’s 2-2 draw with Everton - former United right back Aaron Wan-Bissaka delivered an inch-perfect cross to Jarrod Bowen’s head at the Emirates Stadium.

Bowen’s goal put West Ham 1-0 up against Arsenal, a scoreline that would hold and, effectively, end the Premier League title race.

As is always the case with Manchester United, the discourse machine immediately went brrrr. Plenty of takes were made about Wan-Bissaka or about United’s current right back Diogo Dalot. If you posted anything about the former, you were quickly inundated with reply guys screaming about how Wan-Bissaka is trash and his move to West Ham was just finding his level1.

This isn’t about who’s better between Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Diogo Dalot. This is about how these two players are a great example that when it comes to squad building the question you should be asking is not “who is the better player?” The question(s) you should be asking should fall along the lines of:
What traits does this player have?
What traits do we need from this position?
What kind of impact will those traits have on our team?
What are his weaknesses and are those weaknesses going to be a liability?

Aaron Wan-Bissaka didn’t magically become better when he signed for West Ham. He’s was the exact same player this year as he was throughout his time at Old Trafford, which is unfortunate for him because over five years he didn’t develop much. What kind of player is that?

AWB is an elite 1v1 defender on the wings. That in itself is a pretty valuable skill because it allows you to change how you defend certain teams. If you have a player who can shut down one of the oppositions key players all by himself, you can devote the rest of your resources to fully focusing on the other threats. We recently saw how useful this could be when Graham Potter deployed Wan-Bissaka as a left wing back against Manchester United to shut down United’s main (read: only) threat Amad Diallo. United had no answer to that tactic, the same way Pep Guardiola had no answer when Wan-Bissaka shut down Jeremy Doku in the 2024 FA Cup final.

In possession things are a bit more complicated.

Going forward Wan-Bissaka was always decent once he got into the final third. His 0.9 xAG in his first season at United isn’t jumping off the page, but it was fourth in the league among full time right backs. His four Premier League assists were the most from a United right back since Rafael da Silva had four in 2012-13, and Wan-Bissaka repeated it the following year. No one has had that many since. The biggest issue was he was doing this during a period where Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson were redefining the kind of production you could get from your fullback. If they were what the future of the game was going to look like, 0.9 xAG and four assists is just not good enough.2

Wan-Bissaka’s weaknesses were in his own third of the pitch. He played very narrow in his own box and would often get beat at the back post, but this was likely due to tactical decisions. Even when Wan-Bissaka came out of the team United have still been vulnerable at the back post because, well, they’re still making the tactical choice to play narrow.

Wan-Bissaka’s biggest liability was in possession in his own third of the pitch. He was awkward on the ball and wasn’t a great passer. He was commonly used as a trigger point in the oppositions press.

That’s a problem in the modern game but it’s also something you could mitigate against. When United played him next to a center back who was comfortable on the ball - such as Victor Lindelof or Harry Maguire - the liability was less as there was someone there who could help him out. The liability lowered even more when there was a midfielder like Paul Pogba or Christian Eriksen playing near him on the right side, or when he had wingers like Marcus Rashford, Antony, or Juan Mata - who liked to drop deep and help out the buildup - ahead of him.

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When he was paired next to center backs that weren’t comfortable on the ball - such as Eric Bailly or Raphael Varane - Wan-Bissaka’s liability on the ball was emphasized. This liability grew further when he had Scott McTominay playing as the right sided midfielder, or the very not-adept-at-buildup Mason Greenwood playing in front of him on the right wing.3 One of the more famous matches where this liability came out was the 2020 FA Cup semifinal against Chelsea. Guess who was playing center back next to Wan-Bissaka that day.

His on-ball weaknesses were also badly exposed in the 2021 Europa League final. Look back at the starting XI that day and you’ll see: next to him was Eric Bailly, the right sided midfielder was Scott McTominay, and the right winger was Mason Greenwood.

Diogo Dalot is a completely different player. He can get up and down the pitch and run for days. He gets into the opponents box and, most importantly, he’s extremely press resistant.

If all other things were equal and you were trying to build a team that plays out from the back and will be able to beat an opponents high press, you would obviously pick the guy who is more press resistant.

But all other things aren’t equal. Dalot can get into the opponents box but he’s not very threatening once he’s there. He has the same vulnerability at the back post and doesn’t provide the 1v1 defending Wan-Bissaka did.

When you have a situation like this you need to decide, what traits are the most important? Consecutive United managers decided that the priority was that press resistance and chose Dalot.

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The question is should this trait have been such a high priority? Is a press resistant right back really going to help transform your team when the center back playing next to him isn’t comfortable on the ball? Or the big money midfielder isn’t what you would call a possession midfielder? How important is press resistance from a fullback when the players next to him are just going to hoof the ball long?

Dalot’s press resistance never really had much of an impact on the team. United’s average possession has never been as high as it was before Dalot started playing.

That’s not the fault of Dalot, but his best traits now were never being utilized because the rest of the team wasn’t equipped to play that style. When that’s the case, it’s probably better to go with the guy who’s particular skills aren’t nullified by the teammates around him.4

Wan-Bissaka vs Dalot is just one example but these choices need to be made all over the pitch.

Manchester United have long struggled to move the ball from midfield up to their attacking players. Last summer they signed Manuel Ugarte from PSG. Ugarte is a nuisance to play against. He was a superb ball winner who could cover a lot of ground but in possession he opts for very safe passes. Is that what United needed?

Ugarte’s 87.9 percent pass completion rate is the best of all their midfielders, but only 53.5 percent of his passes go forwards. Ugarte isn’t solving the midfield passing issue for United so his value has to come from what he’s doing off the ball. Ugarte’s defensive numbers are solid but how much of an impact has that had on United?

They’re still conceding more goals per 90 when Ugarte is on the pitch and concede a higher xGA while their attacking numbers drop. Ugarte’s traits don’t seem to be having a positive effect on the team, which begs the question are these really the traits United should have been looking at to bolster their midfield?

Would they not have been better with a midfielder who doesn’t make as many tackles but also doesn’t get dragged out of position as much and can make line breaking passes? Those are the traits United lack, which means even if Ugarte was the best overall midfielder, that doesn’t mean he would be the best fit for United5.

This is the puzzle of squad building. If you have two wingers who like to cut inside and shoot should you be looking for a center forward who relies on service from his teammates - or one that facilitates play, creates space for his wingers, and will be happy helping them carry the weight of scoring all the goals? Roberto Firmino’s skillset would not be properly utilized if you put him into Manchester City’s 2017-18 team and flanked him with Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling. Putting Erling Haaland between Mo Salah and Sadio Mane wouldn’t be properly utilizing the talent of all three players.

There’s often a debate over attacking players and their off-ball ability and work rate. A team can’t function properly if all 11 players aren’t working hard off the ball, but is that really the be all end all for attacking players? Players with special attacking abilities are hard to come by, whereas defensive gaps can be mitigated against by a clever manager. If you over-prioritize traits like how much an attacker defends you’ll end up with a team that can’t score goals - and likely still have defensive issues.

The best player in a position might not be the best player for your team. The best player for your team is going to be determined by the players you already have.

That brings us full circle to those Manchester United right backs. It’s true that transforming a team is going to take longer than one transfer window and you have to start somewhere. The tricky part is figuring out where that place is.

If you can’t create chances you don’t want to bring in a striker who needs chances created for him. The odds are high that he’ll struggle early on due to the lack of chances and the longer that goes the less confidence he’ll have. Eventually you’ll just need a new striker and you’re back at square one. If you’re spending money on a 28 year old center back and signing him to a three year contract, you’re thinking he’s going to be one of the final pieces in getting you to the top - not someone that you’re trying to transform the club with. For better or worse, you’re locking yourself into playing a way he’s comfortable for the next two years otherwise you’re wasting your time and money.

That’s Manchester United’s problem as a whole. They say one thing and do another. They hire a manager to do one thing, but sign players that do something else. You stick with players who represent the direction you want to go in, but you sign new players that don’t fit that direction.

Then when you put them all together the impact of each player is - at best - neutral. More often you’ve created a situation where none of your players strengths can be properly utilized and the team becomes worse than the sum of its parts.

Kwest Thoughts

The challenge of squad building: Identifying and prioritizing what attributes are most important

What we can learn from the Aaron Wan Bissaka vs Diogo Dalot debate

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