Noussair Mazraoui on playing No.10, regrets and the ‘strange feeling’ at Man United | OneFootball

Some of the numbers surrounding Manchester United’s season can startle. Most of them are unflattering, too, Every now and again, however, comes one which is a compliment. Noussair Mazraoui has been United’s MVP – most versatile player – and has filled so many roles even he did not know the total. “I'm surprised that you're telling me that I played in seven positions,” said the Morocco international.

He may have been described as a right-back on his arrival last summer. After all, he was bought to replace Aaron Wan-Bissaka. He was, though, the Morocco left-back in their surprise surge to the World Cup semi-finals. He has occupied both roles for United. But when Ruben Amorim arrived, he brought with a formation that includes neither position. Instead Mazraoui has been both right and left wing-back, the right and left of a trio of central defenders.

Most infamously, though, there is the job Erik ten Hag granted him for one night only. United were facing Fenerbahce in the Europa League, in the hostility of Istanbul. Bruno Fernandes was suspended. Ten Hag was looking for a replacement, someone to occupy the position behind the striker that, in previous United teams, had gone to Wayne Rooney and Eric Cantona. He opted for Mazraoui. “To play the No 10? Yeah, it was a surprise,” Mazraoui recalled. If Ten Hag was intending to shock Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho, he reduced the element of the unexpected by telling Uefa so Mazraoui appeared on the teamsheet as a No 10; many initially assumed it was a mistake. “I did it a really long time ago, before that moment,” said a defender, though it was largely in the Ajax academy.

Ten Hag recalled that and was reunited with him when signing Mazraoui for £15m from Bayern Munich last summer. A mentor was sacked a few months later. “You’re never happy with that,” he said. “Getting a manager sacked is always a feeling of disappointment. You feel it as a player as well. So yeah, really, I was not happy with that.” He is still in contact with Ten Hag, with occasional texts.

If the arrival of a new manager could have plunged Mazraoui into uncertainty, Amorim fast became a fan. A coach who has criticised the team has tended to praise Mazraoui. And yet, for the player as well as the club, it has taken a while to adjust to his 3-4-3 formation. The 27-year-old was initially used in the back three. His minutes have since been split, with many at wing-back. He is not sure himself where he is most comfortable.

“I cannot really give that answer to myself yet,” he said. “Because on both positions, I have some qualities which fit perfectly with the position. Like in the right centre-back, I really like to go forward with the ball. So in the build-up and break the lines, that's something I can do good. I'm comfortable on the ball. But it's not like that attacking as wing-back. And wing-back, a lot of times you come in a right-wing position. For that, you really need like Amad [Diallo’s] one-v-one skill. That's maybe not my biggest strength. So on both positions, you know some good points and some points which you feel like, OK, maybe it's better to play on another position.”

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Noussair Mazraoui battles for the ball against Fulham (AP)

If some would say the other position that suits him best is simply that of a right-back in quartet, he has tended to be a fixture on the teamsheet. No one has made more than Mazraoui’s 55 appearances this season. It is the most of his career; his workload has been so great that Amorim recently described him as “dead”. Mazraoui is instead a man who has had heart surgery this season, a minor procedure after experiencing palpitations, and returned without missing a game. “Personally, I've managed to play a lot of minutes, played on different positions. I think I did quite well on average,” he said. He is the cheapest of United’s six main signings this season and the only one who, so far, is definitively a success.

Their campaign is certainly not one yet. Nevertheless, it could bring silverware. “As a player you've had a great season in the Europa League, but one of the worst seasons in the Premier League,” mused Mazraoui. “It's a strange feeling, of course. Can you be happy? Do you have to be like, even if you win, do you have to stay sad, be sad? It's somewhere in between.”

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Noussair Mazraoui has become Manchester United's most versatile player (Martin Rickett/PA Wire)

The difference between the two Uniteds bemuses him. “We have maybe that kind of fighting spirit in the Europa League what we maybe lack that in the Premier League. I cannot really tell you what the reasons of that are,” he said.

Demonstrate enough fighting spirit in Bilbao, where Mazraoui hit the bar in the semi-final, and the Champions League beckons for a man who reached the semi-finals with both Ajax and Bayern. It is a reminder of how decorated a player he is. Mazraoui has somewhere in his house to put his medals, where he can see them every day. He has three from the Eredivisie, one from the Bundesliga. When he returns from the Basque Country, he hopes there will be one from the Europa League. From a European campaign in which he had one night as United’s No 10.