The Foolish One: Will rivals again capitalize on Mourinho’s cast asides?
This season saw two Jose Mourinho cast asides light up the Premier League. With some high profile names on the periphery at Manchester United, will history repeat itself?
If we’ve learnt anything this campaign, it’s that one manager’s unwanted scraps can be another’s prime rib Black Angus steak. Of course, I am referring to this year’s two standout players, Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne, who were both viewed as surplus to requirements under Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.
Why did you do it Jose?
Salah and De Bruyne made just 16 Premier League appearances between them for Chelsea before they were sent packing. But before raising our pitchforks and joining the anti-Mourinho mob, let’s show the under fire manager a little empathy.
Chelsea harbors a culture of immediacy and since Roman Abramovich took over, the club has had more incomings and outgoings than Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
During Salah’s and De Bruyne’s sojourns in West London the Chelsea midfield was marshaled by Eden Hazard and Willian – two players of an undoubtedly higher pedigree at the time who have since led the club to a couple of league titles.
However, to simply jettison the pair after such fleeting opportunities can only bring Mourinho’s player development skills under severe scrutiny.
Premier League managers must be now be eyeing up a few rough diamonds at United whom, with a bit of guidance, could be polished into shimmering jewels.
Marcus Rashford
Rashford first burst on the scene like Tom Cruise dropping in on a room full of Russian mobsters. However, the fledgling talent’s form has regressed since the arrival of Jose Mourinho.
It is not a case of Jose freezing out the youngster, but more of his tactical manifesto and man management approach knocking the youthful joy clean out of his game.
At this stage in his career, the young lion may be better suited under the tutelage of a more paternalistic manager such as Mauricio Pochettino or Jurgen Klopp and many pundits are calling for him to move on this summer:
"“Eighteen months ago you could have put him in against Real or Barcelona and he’d have been outstanding, playing with flair and without fear”“Now he looks like a kid fresh out of the academy who is desperately trying to impress. Anything, in fact, but the English jewel we’d unearthed who could take the World Cup by storm.”– Ian Wright (via The Sun)"
Anthony Martial
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Similar sentiments can be held for Martial. Three years ago, the Frenchman arrived with much fanfare as United made him the world’s most expensive teenager.
Initially, he more than lived up to the hype, winning September’s Player of the Month award and acclaim from Sir Alex Ferguson who stated ‘he can be anything he wants.’
Upon hearing such comments, I’m guessing an ancillary player in a team shackled by their own lethargy was not what immediately sprung to the forefront of Martial’s mind.
Recently, the Frenchman deleted any attachment with Manchester United from his Twitter account leaving the likes of Tottenham and Chelsea on red alert.
Others
It doesn’t take a media seer to point out that United’s current team is brimming with vastly under-performing stars.
There is a possible Ballon d’Or winner struggling to win his place ahead of Scott McTominay. While not many defenders in the league have higher ceilings than Eric Bailly and Luke Shaw; the former increasingly ostracized from the starting XI and the latter, rather bizarrely, treated about as cordially as a medieval witch.
Next: Tottenham to turn down Manchester United bid
And if Premier League clubs do buy these players they all come with an exclusive built in feature: a burning desire to make ‘The Special One’ look like ‘The Foolish One.’