Jose Mourinho's big money signings at Manchester United that failed to shine

Manchester United is considered to be one of the biggest clubs in the world and is the most successful club in the Premier League. The club has won 20 league titles, 12 FA Cups, 3 Champions league titles to their name.

A lot of players joined the club with their name being anonymous and have marked their name in the history book of the club, whereas many other established stars have failed to replicate their best form. Cristiano Ronaldo can be one of the perfect examples of someone who made his way to the glory in Manchester United and has become one of the biggest stars in the world.

On the contrary, there can be many reasons for the failure, like the inability to adapt to new playing style, failure to cope with the pace of the game or an injury crisis. Such bad recruitments make the fans feel disappointed as well as instigates fear about the next big money signing in the future.

Here are few big signings by Jose Mourinho that failed to make an impact.

#1 Alexis Sanchez

Alexis Sanchez has been utterly disappointing for the Red Devils

Alexis Sanchez was one of few players who had stepped up for Arsenal and scored goals whenever the team was in crisis. He was a gem of a player at Arsenal. It was more of a panic buy by Manchester United in January 2018, as the club was struggling in the final third.

Manchester United swapped Henrikh Mkhitaryan with him and paid £29m along with £10m, as the agent fee. Furthermore, according to the Telegraph, the player was offered pre-tax wages of approximately £490,000 in a deal for four and half years.

In the United shirt, Sanchez has netted only three goals in twenty-three league games so far. He has failed to reproduce his form and has failed miserably to make an impact. Several frequent changes in the match day squad have also deterred his confidence and he later got injured which completely sidelined him for many months.

#2 Fred

Fred is struggling to break into Manchester United's midfield

According to the Guardian, Fred joined Manchester United in 2018 summer transfer window for a massive transfer fee of £52m, owing to his impressive performances at Shakhtar Donetsk. Fred moved to Shakhtar Donetsk from Internacional in 2013 and became a consistent performer for the club over a period of five years.

Fred is a central midfielder whose style of play is to take control the game and orchestrate attacking moves as well as disrupt passing routines of the opposition. During his time with Shakhtar, he possessed a good ratio of 2.9 tackles per game but, this ratio has now dipped to 1.7 tackles per game.

Manchester United already have plenty of options in the central midfield role. Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba, and Ander Herrera are filling all the midfield roles quite effectively under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Fred has therefore been sidelined and has been unable to adapt to the pace of Premier League football.

#3 Eric Bailly

Bailly is having a torrid time in defense

In 2016, Jose Mourinho became the manager of Manchester United and signed Eric Bailly as his first signing for £29m from Villarreal, according to the Daily Mail.

The tall Ivorian was seen as a long time prospect, to resolve the defensive struggles in Manchester United. He was termed as the next Nemanja Vidic and received his first Man of the Match award in his debut game, but in the later matches, he was often caught out of position, and this cost United several points over the course of the season. As a consequence, he has lost his position in the team.

In the current season, Bailly has featured in 8 league games with a poor tackle ratio of 1.5 per game. With only 46 appearances in total, he could not cement his position in the playing XI and has played more like a fringe player.