Jose Mourinho, while at Chelsea, never settled well with their North London rivals Arsenal and their manager Arsene Wenger. Given an opportunity they left no stone unturned to mock each other be it after match press conference or elsewhere. Now, with Mourinho in charge at Manchester Uited, fans are pretty curious to see how things shape up between the two.
However, the Portuguese has taken very little time to make his intentions clear. It seems Mourinho is not ready to settle the scores with the Arsenal boss anytime soon. The transfer window is in full swing and clubs are getting busier as deadline day approaches and the latest transfer rumour has all but refueled the rivalry between the two managers.
According to The Telegraph, Arsenal is interested in Manchester United defender Phil Jones to reinforce their back four. The Gunners were hoping to sign Shkodran Mustafi from La Liga side Valencia before the window closes, but recent reports suggest that no deal is close to being materialized regarding the same. As a result, Wenger is desperate to land a proven defender and has an eye for the England international to solve his issue.
The Telegraph also reports that Mourinho has brushed aside any business deals between the two clubs as he is not ready to sell a player to a direct rival. Though Welbeck moved to the Emirates in 2014, but taking into consideration the sour relationship these two managers maintains it is quite presumable that no deal is expected this time, though. Back in 2015, Jose Mourinho didn’t take it too well when Roman Abramovich sanctioned the deal of Petr Cech joining Arsenal.
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Jones, has experienced an injury struck season last term and seems to be struggling to get a starting XI spot under Mourinho. He is widely remembered for his spectacular stumbling header clearance against Arsenal. It is widely speculated in recent times that Mourinho will allow the defender to leave should they find a potential bidder with the defender having drawn interest from quite a few clubs with Stoke City believed to be the latest.
He still has four more years left in his contract and currently earns £100k/week at Old Trafford. He may just well remain at Manchester as it appears that the United hierarchy will be happy to hold on to the defender. In that case, Arsenal have to act fast to move on to their next target. The recent developments regarding this will certainly not go down too well and more heated situations are anticipated when the two managers face off this season.
