da cassino： Almost everything about Manchester United’s summer business suggests Jose Mourinho will continue his incredible record of title-winning second seasons at Old Trafford this term, but it wasn’t a perfect transfer window for the Red Devils who failed to recruit in one key position.
What they did – Strengthen the Spine
da realbet： Mourinho has an incredible knack of signing the perfect players for his system and we’ve seen clear evidence of that once again since he was appointed United gaffer last summer. While other managers seemingly draw up a list of targets and leave it to the businessmen to decide who is and who isn’t obtainable, the Portuguese identifies key individuals precisely meeting his criteria and nearly always gets his man. Last year, Eric Bailly, Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovich were all brought in to address United’s spine and it has been a similar case this time around, Victor Lindelof, Nemanja Matic and Romelu Lukaku arriving to further bolster those slots down the centre of the team.
The common theme is of course height and power – all of Mourinho’s United signings thus far have measured in at above 6 foot – and that appears to be the root the Red Devils boss has settled on to try and claim this season’s Premier League title. Tellingly of how effective United’s physicality is, seven of their ten top flight goals so far this term have come in the final 20 minutes of games, once the opposition has been slowly and steadily worn down.
The other impressive aspect of United’s summer business is quite simply, how quickly and effectively they pulled it off. The Red Devils were never close to being drawn into all the Deadline Day madness and all of their signings arrived before the end of July. That was epitomised best by their swoop for Romelu Lukaku, right under Chelsea’s nose and completed before anybody else really knew what was happening.
What they didn’t do – Find a winger
Mourinho gave enough hints that signing a winger would constitute the perfect summer for the Red Devils and it certainly wasn’t for the want of trying that the Old Trafford outfit failed to acquire one before the deadine. The United boss publicly declared he’d ‘fight’ for Gareth Bale if the Real Madrid winger was made available and his side were frequently linked with Inter Milan wide-man Ivan Peresic throughout the summer – although the chances of a late move to Carrington were ruled out prior to Deadline Day. There were also some suggestions of a surprise move for Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez, but nothing materialised.
Based on results so far this season, another attacking player would be a luxury rather than a necessity, United scoring ten times from their three Premier League fixtures thus far. But United do lack a conventional winger who can gave them width and pace, whipping in balls to the Red Devils’ new towering front-man Lukaku. Mourinho has always liked out-and-out wide players and his decision to divvy the position between Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford this term suggests the Portuguese would have brought in a winger for the left, allowing Henrikh Mkhitaryan to drift in from the other flank. Of course, Rashford and Martial are fantastic talents as well, but neither are natural wingers and that represents the missing piece of a jigsaw that would make United stand-out title favourites by a considerable distance.