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It may not have always been successful, and it may not always have been too entertaining on the pitch, but Jose Mourinho’s time in charge of Manchester United has certainly been intriguing.
Mourinho made the move to Old Trafford in the summer of 2016, having been sacked by Chelsea the previous December with the club 16th in the Premier League, just seven months after winning his third league title with the Blues.
In his first season with United, Mourinho finished sixth, the lowest league position of his management career. He did however secure Champions League qualification by winning the Europa League, as well as winning the EFL Cup, beating Southampton in the final.
As far as the Premier League goes, his second season was more successful, as United finished second, but comfortably behind Manchester City. There was humiliation in the cup competitions though- dumped out by Sevilla at home in the last 16 of the Champions League, and knocked out by Championship side Bristol City in the EFL Cup. They did reach the FA Cup Final but were beaten 1-0 by Chelsea at Wembley.
It has been in his third season that the pressure has really piled on him. His side have started the season poorly, and sit 7th in the Premier League, have won just one of their opening three Champions League games, and were knocked out of the EFL Cup on penalties by Frank Lampard’s Derby County.
There are a lot of rumours flying around regarding his future at Old Trafford, and it feels more a matter of when, not if, he gets the sack.
He has signed 11 players during his time in charge, with differing results. Here are the 11 players ranked in order of how successful they have been after signing for Manchester United.
#11 Lee Grant
The signing of Grant went under the radar slightly during the summer, simply because he isn’t a player we will see too much of in a Manchester United shirt over the next few years. The Englishman had a couple of good spells with Derby County and Stoke City in recent times, but never really set the world alight.
He has moved to United simply as a third choice goalkeeper, and will be nothing more than that. Obviously, him being at the bottom of this is no reflection on his quality, but he has appeared just once in a competitive fixture, coming off the bench against Derby after Sergio Romero’s red card. It is very unlikely that we will see him in a United shirt on too many more occasions.
#10 Diogo Dalot
Dalot is another one who only made the move to Manchester United this summer. Therefore, it is hard to judge how good a signing he could turn out to be at this stage, simply because we haven’t seen enough of him over the past couple of months. He missed the opening games of the season due to injury, though he has made a couple of appearances in recent weeks, but has not been able to secure a spot as a first choice.
However, at 19, he clearly has great potential and has shown in his short time at the club that he could be an excellent fullback. He has the athleticism to get up and down the pitch at will and looks more than capable of finding a good delivery in attacking areas. Antonio Valencia isn’t getting any younger, and clearly, Matteo Darmian isn’t Jose Mourinho’s cup of tea, so there is certainly a spot in the United side for Dalot.
#9 Victor Lindelof
It almost seems harsh to put Lindelof so far down this list, because he has looked so far out of his depth at United at times that you almost begin to feel sorry for him. He was one of United’s big money signings last year, with Mourinho spending £31.5 million to bring him to the club from Benfica. But he never settled in his first season at Old Trafford and appeared just 17 times in the Premier League.
He was so often the weak link in the United side, and despite Chris Smalling and Phil Jones not performing to anywhere near the standard Mourinho may want, they were consistently selected ahead of Lindelof. There has been a slight improvement in his game this season, but he still looks off the pace, and at times, his partnership with Eric Bailly has been disastrous.
#8 Fred
Fred is yet another of United’s recent summer signings, and he has been the best performing of the three, but that isn’t really saying much in the context of things. He has been United’s most used summer signing, but that shouldn’t really be a surprise, given that they paid more than £50 million to sign him from Shakhtar Donetsk earlier this summer.
He does look like a decent player, but there are still questions about what he really offers to the side. He doesn’t really look like he has the defensive responsibility to play deeper in midfield, and he lacks the real quality in the final third to play behind the striker. It may take time for him to really adapt to English football, but he could be a very good player if he does so.
#7 Alexis Sanchez
A lot was expected from Alexis when he left Arsenal to join Manchester United in January. The Old Trafford club thought they had pulled off a real coup when they stole the Chilean from Manchester City's hands, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan moving in the other direction. The move made Sanchez the highest paid player in the Premier League, but he hasn’t really shown he is worth that since moving to United.
Quite frankly, Sanchez has been dreadful since he moved to Manchester. He has looked like a shadow of his former self in a United shirt and has had nowhere near the impact that would have been expected of him. He has scored just three Premier League goals since his January move and has found himself out of the team in recent times, and he can’t really have too many complaints.
#6 Henrikh Mkhitaryan
It’s almost a mystery as to why Mkhitaryan didn’t succeed in Manchester after his 2016 move from Borussia Dortmund. He was superb in Germany, and it was hoped that we would bring his sparkling form to the Premier League. But things never really worked out, and despite some flashes of brilliance, he never established himself in Jose Mourinho’s side.
At times, you got the impression that he wasn’t really someone Mourinho wanted to sign. It took a couple of months for him to actually get a go, and even when he did, Mkhitaryan was used sparingly. He was involved in the swap deal for Alexis Sanchez in January and has enjoyed more first-team opportunities at the Emirates.
#5 Eric Bailly
Bailly was Mourinho’s first big-money signing, making the switch from Villareal in 2016 for a fee of around £30 million. Initially, he looked like an excellent signing, and was a consistent performer for United at centre-back, as they had an impressive clean sheet record during both the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons. There was certainly a feeling that Bailly could be a vital player for the Red Devils for years to come.
However, things have been different this year, and Bailly’s form has been awful. The Ivorian had a bit of a shocker in his side’s 3-2 loss to Brighton earlier on this season, and things have gone downhill from there. He was taken off inside 20 minutes with United 2-0 down at home to Newcastle in October, and he hasn’t appeared in the side since then. There may be a chance that there is no way back for Bailly under Mourinho.
#4 Paul Pogba
No one in football divides opinion quite like Paul Pogba. The Frenchman made a then world record move from Juventus to Manchester United in 2016, and it was expected that he would lead Mourinho’s side. Yet for many, he has flattered to deceive. He has shown glimpses of what he did at Juventus, but there simply has not been enough of them since his return to England.
One of the main issues is that we still don’t really know what Pogba is good at. He has been used in a number of different roles at United, but there are none that he has really excelled in. Things seem to have become toxic between him and Mourinho this season. He has criticised the team’s style this season, which led to the Portuguese manager stripping him of the vice-captaincy.
#3 Nemanja Matic
Matic was the one player Mourinho bought with him from his days at Chelsea. The Serbian was always someone he could rely on when he was in charge at Stamford Bridge, and in Matic, he was signing someone who had proven himself in the Premier League. He paid £40 million to bring him to Old Trafford, and he has done a pretty good job since.
There hasn’t been too much spectacle from the Serbian, but that isn’t the sort of player he is. He is a consistent performer for Mourinho, and has certainly added a stability to the side since he made the move to Manchester in 2017. There is an argument to say that he is past his peak, and hasn’t quite reached the levels of performance he was putting in at Chelsea, but United would be a worse team without him in it.
#2 Romelu Lukaku
Lukaku was United’s big money signing in the 2017 summer transfer window, and it’s fair to say he has been a success since. It was a bit of a surprise to see him join United, given that it was Mourinho who sold him to Everton as Chelsea manager in 2014. There were rumours linking with a return to Stamford Bridge, but United pipped them to the post, paying £76 million for the Belgian’s services.
He may not have been the most clinical forward in the league, but he has done well in his time with United, scoring 27 goals in all competitions last season. He is struggling to find form a little bit this season, but he will undoubtedly be back in the goals soon. He is still only 25, so time is most certainly on his side, and he will likely continue to be a crucial part of this United side.
#1 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Whereas Lukaku was bought with the aim of achieving in the long term, Ibrahimovic moved to United simply as a short-term option. While United only got one season from the Swede, it was a pretty sensational season. At 34, many believed that he would struggle to adapt to the Premier League and that the pace of the game would be too much for him. They were very much mistaken.
He scored 28 goals in his debut season at Old Trafford, before picking up a knee injury in April 2017 that ruled him out for the rest of the season. His goals included a brace against Southampton in the League Cup Final, the second of which was a last-gasp winner. He signed a new contract for another year at United, but never really got back to full fitness, and moved to LA Galaxy in March 2018. However, he more than exceeded expectation in England.
