MATIC IS MOUR’S MAN TO MAKE POGBA PURR AT UNITED
£40m Nemanja will help record buy to shine
NEMANJA MATIC’S imminent arrival at Manchester United will satisfy Jose Mourinho’s frustration at the lack of summer transfer activity. But it may also have a far more important knock-on effect when the new season kicks off. The reunion between the United manager and the holding midfielder is at a hefty £40m price tag – almost twice the fee Chelsea paid Benfica to re-sign Matic three years ago. Yet the potential impact Matic’s arrival could have on the form of the world’s most expensive footballer could prove crucial. Paul Pogba’s return to United and the Premier League last season drew mixed reviews, with Mourinho his biggest cheerleader. With Pogba often required to take up a defensive midfield role, it was difficult to make the case that the young Frenchman looked like an £89m footballer. When freed to use his power and pace more, Pogba showed enough to suggest he should be more than capable of adding to the five league goals he scored last season. Not least because he also struck the woodwork six times.
Holding
Ander Herrera, one of United’s most consistent performers last season, could be another to benefit from Matic’s ability to provide cover in front of the back four. The 28-year-old also offers Mourinho some added tactical flexibility for the new season, either playing as the solitary holding midfielder or, on occasion, operating alongside a team-mate in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Marouane Fellaini will remain at United after Mourinho shot down suggestions that the Belgian midfielder was moving to Turkey. Fellaini headed the first in United’s 3-0 friendly win over Valerenga in Oslo last night with Romelu Lukaku and rookie Scott McTominay also on target. Mourinho said: “It’s easier for Galatasaray to get me than Marouane. He is too important to me. There’s no chance.”
Veteran Michael Carrick also adds to the depth Mourinho can call upon for that role.
But it’s Serbian Matic’s solid stature – he is 6ft 4ins tall – that satisfies an important Mourinho requirement.
The Portuguese coach prefers players who would look just as at home on a basketball court as a football field.
Pogba, Eric Bailly, Lukaku, Fellaini and Victor Lindelof all tower above 6ft and will help make United a physically daunting opponent.
Important
There should be little excuse for a lack of results from set-pieces, at both ends of the field. And, in the short term, Matic’s arrival this week will also serve the important function of appeasing Mourinho. The ex-Chelsea boss had grown increasingly vocal during the club’s tour of the United States about their failure to add the final two big-money signings he wanted to make this summer. But Matic certainly ticks that box, with Mourinho’s final target being an attacking player who can operate on either flank. The man in question is £48m-rated Inter Milan star Ivan Perisic, although the Italian club have so far insisted he’s not leaving. Mourinho’s comments were taken as one of the manager’s trademark complaints, aimed in the direction of the club’s executive vicechairman Ed Woodward. And it was probably no coincidence that, within days of Mourinho’s statement, a deal for Matic was quickly clinched. The fact that Mourinho delivered two trophies and Champions League football in his first season at Old Trafford has certainly strengthened his bargaining position.