Wayne Rooney
“I’ve always said he’s a player that I like very, very much but I cannot say more than that. Being fast and direct, I like him very much but he’s a Man United player.”
In praising Wayne Rooney back in July 2013, Jose Mourinho offered the final sentence as a caveat. Then Chelsea boss, the Portuguese simultaneously fluttered his eyelashes at both player and club, but acknowledged his employers at Stamford Bridge. Mourinho had pursued the striker throughout that summer, with Chelsea lodging three bids for the United captain. All were rejected, Rooney remained, and Mourinho won the league with the Blues the following season.
Mourinho planted the seed two-and-a-half years ago, and if rumours of his appointment at Old Trafford come to fruition, he will soon be able to harvest the results. Rooney is not the player he was in 2013, which was in itself a regressed version, but Mourinho would still relish a union. Rooney could become the battering ram striker which Mourinho so craves, and the 30-year-old can be reinvigorated under new leadership. Maybe.
There is, after all, a reason Mourinho openly pursued Rooney two years ago, before settling for Diego Costa as his forward. The England international even emerged as a Chelsea target as late as this November. The two are a perfect match, both personally and on a footballing level.
Morgan SchneiderlinChris Smalling, Juan Mata, Daley Blind, David de Gea, Wayne Rooney, Anthony Martial, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Matteo Darmian. So reads the list of Manchester United players who have played more combined minutes in the Premier League and Champions League than Morgan Schneiderlin this season. Louis van Gaal has rarely trusted his £24million summer signing, this despite United tasting defeat just once in all competitions when his midfield general has started. Losing to Swansea must be a difficult memory to erase.
Schneiderlin would be perhaps the biggest beneficiary if Mourinho were to replace Van Gaal. Remember Nemanja Matic before 2015 happened? Schneiderlin can be even better. The Frenchman’s physical traits, allied with a perceptive reading of the game, would make him Mourinho’s midfield lieutenant. Just as he should be.
Ashley YoungIt has been a strange season for Ashley Young. To outlining his desire to become a striker, to mass ‘bemusement’, to Roy Keane and Chinamen, Young has gone from one of Louis van Gaal’s trusted water carriers to bit-part player in the space of one campaign. Only five players started more Premier League games for United in 2014/15 than Young; that figure becomes 11 this season. He has undeniably suffered a loss of status, but is Mourinho the man to restore him? The 30-year-old offers versatility, reliability and a resolute defensive outpost. And not too much of an attacking outlet. Just how Mourinho likes his wide players.
Phil Jones‘The next Branislav Ivanovic’ sounds like the most underwhelming transfer target of all time, but it could be used to describe Phil Jones. The defender has been plagued by his own versatility in the early stages of his career, being used at right-back, centre-half and even defensive midfield during his four years at Old Trafford. Such issues beset Ivanovic upon signing for Chelsea in 2008. At 6ft 1 and boasting the league’s biggest ar*e (sorry, Wilfried Bony), the Serb hardly looks like a right-back – he certainly doesn’t right now. But he has become a mainstay in that position for a Champions League club. With Mourinho known to favour taller defenders like the continental Tony Pulis he is, Jones would surely be right up his ally.
Ander Herrera
One Spaniard would certainly not welcome Mourinho at Old Trafford, but another might. Juan Mata has already fallen foul of Mourinho’s iron rule, but Ander Herrera could have more success in that regard. The 26-year-old has found regular opportunities difficult to come by under Louis van Gaal, but his passing range, combined with hard work and guile, make him the closest thing to Oscar that United have. With Rooney used as a striker, Marouane Fellaini used as sparingly as possible, and Mata’s already fractured relationship with Mourinho, Herrera will face scant competition for the No 10 role.
