Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s priority at the start of this season was building from the back, with defenders Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan Bissaka two of his three summer signings.
The Manchester United manager is delighted with both and feels he can now focus on strengthening his team further forward.
Maguire's £80 million (Dh364.8m/US$99.3m) move from Leicester City makes the England centre-back the most expensive defender in the world.
He and Wan Bissaka, a £45m signing from Crystal Palace, are both in contention to win United’s player of the season when, or if, that award is handed out.
They are playing with Luke Shaw, the 2018-19 player of the year and the most expensive teenager in world football when he moved to Old Trafford in 2014
Shaw, now fit again, and Brandon Williams seem to have settled United’s issues at left-back.
If there is a doubt about the defence, it is Victor Lindelof, although United's coaching staff expect Axel Tuanzebe to develop into a top defender. Injuries have hampered Tuanzebe this season.
Behind them is David de Gea, the best paid goalkeeper on the planet, although his performance has dropped this season from the incredible highs that allowed his agent to negotiate a lucrative new contract a year ago.
United’s defence was playing better than at any time since Solskjaer took over before the coronavirus-enforced lockdown in March.
Since a January home defeat to Burnley, United have kept nine clean sheets in 11 games, winning eight, including against Manchester City (twice) and Chelsea.
That contrasted sharply with their form earlier in January when United lost four of seven games.
Maguire was made captain after Ashley Young left to join Inter Milan, while Marcus Rashford was injured for most of the winning run.
At least he will be back fit to represent his club and country when football resumes.
United’s leading scorer with 19 goals before that January setback, Rashford is developing into a world-class forward, the main man in United’s front line.
He needed to score more goals this season and did. He has already passed his earlier season goal tallies of 8, 11, 13 and 13.
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Maguire is a long-time admirer of his teammate.
“I’ve always spoken so highly of Marcus when I was with him at England,” Maguire said. “I can’t speak highly enough of him.
"I think he’s going to go on to have an exceptional career. I also think he’s going to go on – I don’t want to put too much pressure on him – to be a wonderful player for Manchester United, as he is now.”
Maquire was asked on United’s podcast about Rashford being a leader, the most talented player he has played with and a possible future captain of United.
“Yeah, definitely," he said. "I think as a club you should have a captain and rely on him. but you need to spread the onus of the leadership in the group.
"Marcus is there and he battles through every game. Obviously he’s missing through a bad injury at the moment but he’s battling hard to get back and he’s very rarely missing games.
"He’s always wanting to make himself available. I think you can see around the place and on and off the field as well. He’s excellent with his charity work, which is great to see.
"On the pitch, like I said, he’s amazed me. He’s the most talented player I’ve ever played with and I’m sure he’s going to be a wonderful player for this club.”
The mood around United was positive before the lockdown. Results were too.
With Rashford back and Maguire captain and in-form, the return will be keenly anticipated, especially if United add another top attacking threat to play alongside and support Rashford.
