Where has all gone wrong for Aaron Wan-Bissaka?

Going to EURO 2020 England had a lot of great options at right-back. Kieran Trippier, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Reece James, and Kyle Walker were calling for their place among the starting 11. England manager Gareth Southgate took advantage of such luxury and shared the playing time among them to maintain freshness in the team. However, the fifth option Aaron Wan-Bissaka was never in the contest to join the tournament’s squad despite playing really well for the club. Today, he looks as far away from Three Lions as he has ever been. So, where has everything gone wrong for him?

Up to this point, Aaron Wan-Bissaka only played 5 minutes in the Premier League and recorded no minutes in any other competitions for Manchester United this season. It is pointless to say, that he didn’t record any goal or assist. New manager Erik ten Hag doesn’t have any intention of giving him a lot of playing time. Or any at all.

Since he is (only) 24 years old, it surprises me that the club hadn’t sold him in the summer knowing what the future will bring him under the new manager. With his age and valid contract, he probably wouldn’t be too cheap and the club would be able to get some money for further investments. Or to pay out dividends if you know what I mean.

With not getting any club’s football at the moment it's fair to say that Aaron Wan-Bissaka doesn’t have any real chance of getting to Qatar for this year’s World Cup. Despite some recent injuries from the key England players in his position (Reece James).

In 2019 when Manchester United bought him, he was an England U-21 national team player and a very bright talent. He was initially brought in to make things solid in the back. To keep the back four compact and hard to score against.

With the leadership of Harry Maguire — I know it sounds ridiculous today, but it wasn’t at that point — he quickly settled into the team and became a regular starter. At the end of his first season, he made the highest number of tackles in the Premier League. The money was seen to be exceptionally well invested.

However, when a player joins a team, even for big money, that’s certainly not the end of the story. Far from it. The main idea is not just to strengthen the team and maybe further sell the player for a profit, but also to make him better over the next reasonable period of time.

The higher players get, the less time they receive to adjust and perform as expected of them. Manchester United and opponents in the Premier League knew Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s strengths. He was an exceptional defender.

A defender that literally can not be dribbled or anyhow passed. The one that will hunt you down, press, make tackles, and give opponents difficult moments when receiving the ball and looking for space. Everything that is perhaps missing with Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Yet, the story for him finished here. The club’s idea was to strengthen Wan-Bissaka’s skills on the opposite side of the pitch as well. In the attacking part. In the hardest part of the game if you like. And that’s the area where the 24-year-old never made that next step. His numbers support that.

Don’t get me wrong. He improved a little bit. But not enough and not in a way that can properly suit a new manager who wants to play more attacking football.

The one where full-backs ‘fly high’ and produce assists, dangerous crosses, and key passes. Just overlaping to create space for your winger or a teammate is not enough anymore these days. Moreover, he doesn’t cut inside to shoot either, like João Cancelo is able to do.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that the former England U-21 national team player should take corners and be a real threat from free kicks, like Trent Alexander-Arnold and Kieran Tripper are. The point is that it’s a million miles easier for Liverpool’s right-back to improve the defensive part in difference to Wan-Bissaka’s lack of dangerousness in the final third.

It’s true that the attacking part also includes elements that a player simply has or doesn’t have. Flair, vision, courage … if you like. But even at that teachable part Aaron Wan-Bissaka never really gave away the feeling that he became a master of it.

Since the defensive part of the journey is easier to acquire, attacking full-backs will always have an upper hand in the most prestigious clubs. Therefore, I believe Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s story of settling in with bigger clubs may have just finished unless he finds something special in the final third.