Champions pocket £151m
JOSE MOURINHO’S transfer strategy for the summer changed the moment the full extent of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s injury was confirmed.
With the Swede ruled out until the new year after suffering cruciate damage, Mourinho decided Manchester United’s priority was a direct replacement – and long-term target Antoine Griezmann did not fit that profile.
For months he had wanted the diminutive and pacy France forward to play off Ibrahimovic, but now his striker is out of the equation for so long – should he stay – he is understood to have cooled his interest.
Mourinho has always liked to play with a traditional targetman. He had Didier Drogba in his first spell at Chelsea; Ibrahimovic, Samuel Eto’o and Diego Milito at Inter Milan; Karim Benzema at Real Madrid; Diego Costa when he returned to Stamford Bridge, and lured Ibrahimovic to Old Trafford last summer.
It proved a successful reunion, with Ibrahimovic scoring 28 goals until his season was cut short when he ruptured ligaments in his right knee during the Europa League quarterfinal against Anderlecht on April 20.
Griezmann has filled the centreforward role for Atletico Madrid but at 5ft 9in and super-slim, he is not big or muscular enough for Mourinho’s profile.
Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial are full of potential but still too young and too inconsistent to carry the burden for a whole season.
So Mourinho’s focus is now on finding a tried-and-tested specialist No9, a player good in the air, a reliable goalscorer and one capable of leading the line.
That is why he is ready to go back to the future and target Romelu Lukaku, a player he fell out with and sold during his second spell at Chelsea.
Mourinho did not think the Belgium striker was ready then but after seeing him score 104 goals in five seasons, first at West Brom and then Everton, Lukaku looks the perfect fit.
He has also told Everton he will not sign a new contract and wants Champions League football, which United can now offer courtesy of their Europa League triumph.
The big problem is that Everton are asking almost four times the £28million fee for which Mourinho sold him in 2014, although United could
SPORT IN BRIEF
for showing games featuring the highest-profile clubs.
Twelve months ago, Arsenal (£101m) were the top earners, despite finishing runners-up.
This season Manchester City (£147m) and Liverpool (£146m) banked even more than Tottenham (£145.5m), who ended the season behind Chelsea in second.
But it was the Blues who were most rewarded for their superb title-winning season under manager Antonio Conte, above. Half of this year’s domestic TV deal is shared out evenly between all the teams, with the rest distributed in “facility fees” for each game shown on UK TV and based on each club’s league position. The Premier League also paid out nearly £220m to Aston Villa, Cardiff, Fulham, Newcastle, Norwich, QPR, Reading and Wigan in relegation parachute payments. Villa, Newcastle and Norwich – the three most recently relegated sides – received almost £41m each.