Mourinho. Done. Ibrahimovic. Done. Mkhitaryan. Done. With all the money spent in the right places, this could be the time that we see the Manchester United side that we have been craving for since the past 3 years.
The appointment of David Moyes was supposed to usher a new era for Manchester United. And it did. But just not the kind that we had hoped for. His sacking left a sour aftertaste like cheap vodka and someone had to curb the ugly hangover.
Enter Louis van Gaal, the Dutch authoritarian with his “philosophy” which we’re still trying to decipher after his exit. United rose, fell and briefly rose again but now, they just come across as a mediocre squad with a little of the Ferguson era magic. But just when all hope was lost, the dynamic flipped.
Enter Jose Mourinho, the 2-time Champions League winner and a man on a mission, ever since he was sacked from Chelsea. Mourinho was supposed to be Ferguson’s successor at the Old Trafford and now, he has the perfect opportunity to prove his former club that they made a mistake letting him go.
With plenty in the bank to spend and Mourinho’s ability and credibility to sign big names, he has already rackep up 3 big signings in Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Erik Bailly and his old prodigy at Inter Milan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. To add to it, he has renewed the contratcs of Marcus Rashford who has been brilliant and the evergreen Michael Carrick.
With a rejuvenated squad already boasting of names like Wayne Rooney, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Anthony Martial who has been no short of a revelation, added to Mourinho’s counter-attacking approach, solid defensive depth, ability to win clutch games by being a pragmatic tactician and deploying crazily effective tactics, United sure could see themselves qualifying for the Champions League, if not winning the Premier League right off the bat.
With Rooney playing just behind Ibra along with Martial and Mkhitaryan on the flanks, this unorthodox quartet may just be what United need to make up for their lack of flair, especially after they couldn’t make things work with Angel di Maria.
The defense of United has been stern and mostly effective but with Mourinho coming in, he would surely invest in buying a quality centre-back in front of their prodigal goalkeeper, David de Gea. Although, it’d be interesting to see how Luke Shaw performs when he returns, considering the hype around him.
The other interesting aspect will be the reunion of old foes via city rival clubs as Guardiola is now taking over the reign at Manchester City. And with Mourinho’s record against him, he’d surely be looking to get one over his archrival.
Tactically, we can expect to see a fluid attacking system under Mourinho with plenty of space for fullbacks, wingers and a creative attacking midfielder, someone whom he’ll try to develop Wayne Rooney into.
With a string midfield already consisiting of Schweinsteiger and Juan Mata (and their love-hate scenario which would be interesting to see), the last piece of the puzzle comes to the defence and although he has Darmian, Blind, and Rojo at his disposal, Mourinho would try to rope in a quality centre-back.
He has already made his ambitions clear that the Europa League doesn’t matter to him and given his credentials and hunger to give the United fans a reason to chant his name, he’ll have to let go of his perceived pragmatic approach of parking the bus and play “beautiful” football, something which we all could look forward to.
The Special One has arrived and the fans have hope. Your move, Mourinho.
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