Upon signing for Manchester United in 2016, there was hope that Eric Bailly could have been the defensive colossus for which the Red Devils were striving.

However, it has not panned out that way for the Ivorian at Old Trafford, with his transfer valuation now the lowest it has ever been since he arrived in Manchester.

Initially when he arrived at the club under Portuguese Jose Mourinho from Spanish outfit Villarreal, the then 22-year-old was rated at £18m by Transfermarkt.

As he established himself within the Red Devils setup with an impressive debut campaign, that rating shot up to its peak of £31.5m at the start of 2018.

However, a combination of poor form, injury woes and new signings have all seen Bailly fall down the pecking order at Old Trafford and consequently seen his valuation slide all the way down to its current level of £13.5m – an £18m decrease on its peak.

Since his first season at the club, the centre-back has not played more than 20 matches in all competitions during a single campaign – only taking to the pitch on 11 occasions during the 2019/20 season.

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The 36-cap international now seems highly unlikely to improve on those numbers, with the likes of Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof being Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first-choice pairing, whilst the Norwegian is also reportedly keen to bring in a new centre-back during the transfer window.

This would, of course, be bad news for Bailly as he gets pushed even further down the pecking order despite Solskjaer recently praising his “immense” performances.

Considering that he is now meant to be entering his peak, the defender’s lack action on the pitch and his perennially falling transfer rating both suggest otherwise.

Once again, it is not the trajectory that Bailly would have envisaged when he swapped the Estadio de la Cerámica for Old Trafford in 2016.

AND in more news, take a look at which European hotshot could replace Edinson Cavani at Old Trafford...