Gary Neville has spoken candidly about Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire's partnership at Manchester United

The first-choice duo's relationship was brought into sharp focus on Sunday afternoon following Mbaye Diagne's opening goal for West Bromwich Albion.

Lindelof failed to deal with a looping ball into the area and Diagne bullied his way beyond the Sweden international to power a header beyond David De Gea. 

While Lindelof and Maguire have been solid alongside one another for the most part this season, there have been glimpses of fragility, such as the one involving Diagne at the weekend, that lend cause for concern over their credentials as a potentially title-winning partnership.

And Neville addressed some of those concerns while speaking on Sky Sports on Monday Night Football. 

The 45-year-old pundit concluded that Lindelof and Maguire simply aren't compatible with one another, and candidly suggested that the former will be the one to step aside for a new partner due to the £80m fee the Red Devils paid to sign him from Leicester City.

"Lindelof's problem is Maguire and Maguire's problem is Lindelof. I think if you put Lindelof alongside Van Dijk at Liverpool, I think he's a really good player. He understands the game, he reads the game, he's a good defender. If he was alongside a Ferdinand or a Van Dijk, I think he'd make a great pair. The problem is he alongside somebody who's not the most mobile in Harry Maguire.

"The problem Lindelof has got is they've invested £80m on Maguire so they're going to have to put someone alongside him. They both seem to drop back a little bit and you need someone who can get them up the pitch."

GIVEMESPORT's Jack Saville says...

Lindelof finds himself embroiled in a genuine catch-22 situation. 

Maguire is almost untouchable by virtue of his transfer fee and, barring a truly cataclysmic downturn in form, will continue to keep his place in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's starting XI. 

However, the partnership with Lindelof doesn't appear to be as well balanced as, say, John Stones and Ruben Dias or Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip, so he may well be forced to make way for a new talent through no real fault of his own. 

As Neville says, the former Benfica star has all of the hallmarks of a top level central defender but doesn't have the right partner to truly excel at Old Trafford. 

Amid reports that United are interested in signing Sevilla's Jules Kounde, a player who revered journalist Guillem Balague has described as "the best centre-back in the world", Lindelof finds himself in an ominous position.