Manchester United: Jose Mourinho thinks Tottenham are stupid
Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho is trying to con Tottenham
It’s no coincidence that Jose Mourinho’s public comments about Luke Shaw have changed drastically as the January transfer window approaches. The Special One’s effusive praise of his young left back is a transparent ploy to get Tottenham interested in buying him next month.
Shaw made his long-awaited return from injury yesterday against CSKA Moscow in United’s final Champions League match in the Group Stage. In fairness, the English fullback put in a very solid shift. He earned an impressive Whoscored.com player rating of 7.70 in his club’s 2-1 win over their Russian opponents.
Predictably, Mourinho couldn’t wait to speak glowingly about Shaw’s performance after the match. Remember, this is the same player who Mourinho has repeatedly criticized during his time at Old Trafford. This time, his comments were much different. He lauded his left back’s “great intensity” during the match and promised that Shaw will be in line for significantly more playing time moving forward.
Perhaps if a less Machiavellian manager would have uttered these compliments I would have been inclined to believe them. Coming from Mourinho however, I’m forced to view them with a great deal of skepticism. Instead of being genuine praise for Shaw, they strike me as a plea for Tottenham to move for Shaw in January.
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Officials at United see Shaw as their greatest opportunity to bring Spurs’ asking price for Danny Rose down. Early reports claim Tottenham are looking for somewhere around £50 million to part with the England defender. United can certainly afford that price, but they’d like to reduce it so they can spend the money on Mourinho’s other ambitious January targets.
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino has a relationship with Shaw from their time together at Southampton. Ed Woodward and company hoped that would be enough to bring Spurs around to the idea of using Shaw as a makeweight in a deal for Rose. To date, Daniel Levy and company have shown zero interest in that idea.
As such, Mourinho is taking to the press to try to improve Shaw’s stock. He still doesn’t see any long-term future for him at United, but that doesn’t mean he lacks value. Mourinho’s plan is to praise Shaw as much as he can between now and January. He’s hoping that by doing so, Tottenham will open the door for Shaw to be used as bait.
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It’s a reasonable strategy by Mourinho, but I wouldn’t count on it being too successful. His sudden about-face is too transparent to really earn any traction at Spurs. Luke Shaw may ultimately end up playing for Pochettino in January, but it won’t be because of Mourinho’s recent public relations campaign.