It has been a frustrating summer at Old Trafford. It looked like they were in for an exciting summer after an excellent start to the window, with both Fred and Diogo Dalot moving to United before the World Cup got underway.
However, things have been frustrating for Jose Mourinho in the past few weeks, and with the exception of Lee Grant, who will be third choice goalkeeper at best, no one else has come through the doors at Old Trafford. The Portuguese manager gave his board a list of five players he wanted to sign, in the hope at least two of them would be bought. In the end, he got none.
It is clear that Mourinho is frustrated at the club this season. He was unhappy with the performances in pre-season, as well as the fact that some of his players who went to the World Cup didn’t return to training until late.
The pressure is on Mourinho after a tough second season at the club. Even though they finished second in the Premier League, they were comfortably short of champions Manchester City, and fans weren’t impressed by the style of football played by Mourinho.
In particular, Mourinho was hoping to bring in a centre back, with a right winger also high up on his shopping list. Here are five men United missed out on this summer.
1. Harry Maguire
It is rumoured that Maguire was Mourinho’s number one target this summer, after the Englishman impressed at the World Cup, playing a crucial role as the Three Lions reached their first semi-final since 1990. The 25-year-old also had an excellent first season with Leicester City, winning the club’s Player of the Year award after completing a £17 million move to the King Power Stadium from Hull City last summer.
His performances on the world stage meant Leicester were able to set an £80 million asking price for Maguire, a world record fee for a defender. This was seen as too much for Ed Woodward though, and he refused to pay that high an amount. He would have been an excellent player for United, as he is a solid centre back, and has the ability to bring the ball out of defence. He would have really improved the Red Devils squad, so Mourinho will have been disappointed to miss out on Maguire.
2. Jerome Boateng
With the Maguire deal off the table, United reportedly showed an interest in Boateng, who has impressed in his recent years at Bayern Munich, but had a poor World Cup, which ended with a sending off against Sweden. That didn’t put off United and Mourinho though, who were keen to add the German to their backline.
Despite the success that he has had in the Bundesliga, he probably isn’t as good a defender as Maguire, but given the inconsistent performances of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones at times last season, he would still be an upgrade on this current United defence. It was Boateng though who decided against a move to Manchester, because he wants to win the Champions League again in his career, and he doesn’t believe there is a chance of that at Old Trafford.
3. Diego Godin
Rumours of this deal almost came from nowhere on transfer deadline day. Godin’s agent approached United a couple of days previously, and informed the club that the Uruguayan centre-half was interested in joining. However, this proved to be just a ploy by Godin’s agent to get his client a better contract at Atletico.
This will have been a shame for United, because had they been able to pull off this deal, they would have been signing arguably the best centre back in the world at this moment in time. He has shown in his years at Atletico and at the World Cup with Uruguay, that he is a superb defender, and he would have been a brilliant signing for United. He had a release clause of around £18 million, so would have also been a bit of a bargain.