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> Why Jose was so desperate for Serbian to be the base for The Devils to play from

WHEN finishing the usual forensic analysis of his squad for summer transfer planning, Jose Mourinho last season decided he wanted to enhance five areas of the Manchester United team, but there were two specific positions he saw as higher priority than the rest. One was obviously a goalscorer, and that has now been sorted with the signing of Romelu Lukaku – amid some sensation. The other was by many accounts even more important to Mourinho, the task he is most concerned with. That was the pursuit of a defensive midfielder, a fulcrum, and was about so much more for the Portuguese than just necessarily filling a position in his team. It was about filling one of his real key positions, from where so much of the manager’s idea of football emanates. Mourinho’s defensive midfielders offer that “balance to the team offensively and defensively”, but also so much more. These are the players he has variously described as his “tactical leader”, his “assistant coach on the pitch” and who he most charges with interpreting and applying the manager’s approach. Even another of Mourinho’s true loyalist lieutenants in Didier Drogba recognised Claude Makelele as “the essential element” in their 2004-06 Chelsea side. Manchester United have now signed Nemanja Matic for £40m (RM226.75m) and whether he prove as successful for United as Porto’s Costinha, Internazionale’s Esteban Cambiasso or Real Madrid’s Xabi Alonso remains to be seen. But it is easy to see why