Manchester United: 4 central midfielders for Mourinho to target
By Tom Bogert
Nemanja Matic
A familiar face! Friend!
Who better to help usher in Mourinho’s style of play than a player who typified it? Matic was a brilliant player for Mourinho. His defensive abilities were the bare minimum, but John Obi Mikel has defensive abilities, too. Matic was able to help start attacks, enter the ball to the attacking midfielders or dribble it there himself.
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But what Mourinho cared most about his defensive midfield position was defending and Matic was one of the best, especially in their title-winning season of two years ago.
During that 2014-15 campaign, Matic averaged just under three tackles a game, just over two interceptions and the 6’4″ Serbian won 65% of his aerial duels. Last season, the numbers slipped as did Chelsea. Matic averaged one less tackle a match and lost more than half of his aerial duels.
He’s proved to be a quality player and it’s more than likely that last season was the aberration and he’ll return to his better play before long.
Chelsea have asserted that he’s not for sale amid interest from United and Juventus, but Chelsea have sold the player before. And he may want a reunion with his former boss.
Matic would be brilliant for United. He’d be able to anchor the midfield which could give Schweinsteiger (if he stays) the freedom to join the attack or paired with Schneiderlin to give the defense a real two-man shield and really alleviate defensive duties from the front four.
Next: N'Golo Kante