Bookies say Rooney is favourite for United exit
UNITED manager Jose Mourinho is expected to ring the changes this summer as he launches a Premier League title bid next season.
He has said he wants to bring in four players – and a number are set to leave.
Fans had their say about who should go when we surveyed them this week.
And odds from bookmaker Betfred suggest they will, at least in part, get what they want.
Though short odds of 11/10 that goalkeeper David de Gea will depart will add to the fear the Reds No.1 could be heading to Real Madrid.
Of those polled, only 18 per cent wanted Wayne Rooney to stay – and the bookies believe he is almost certain to go after more than a decade of success at Old Trafford. He is odds on to be on his way at 1/8.
Defenders Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw all fell foul of Mourinho at various times last season and all could have to make their futures away from Old Trafford.
Jones, somewhat surprisingly, is 2/1 to go, while Shaw is 3/1 and Smalling 4/1.
Despite making himself an integral part of Mourinho’s plans late in the season, Marounane Fellaini is rated as a 3/1 chance to also leave.
Adnan Januzaj is almost certain to leave with United reportedly ready to listen to offers for the Belgian who was on loan at Sunderland last term. JOSE Mourinho may yet have to cut his holiday short as United focus their attentions on Romelu Lukaku.
Mourinho insists he will play no part in transfer negotiations after being left ‘fed up and tired of football’ as a result of an exhausting debut campaign at Old Trafford.
But his intervention may yet be required to convince Lukaku to resist the attentions of Chelsea and instead head to United instead.
It is that personal relationship between manager and player that could prove pivotal to any deal. Mourinho was the man who sold Lukaku in 2014 and thus ended his dream of leading the line at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho was the man who bought Diego Costa and installed him as the figurehead of Chelsea’s title-winners the very next season.
Now Mourinho may have to be the man to convince Lukaku, United is the club where he can achieve his ambitions of winning the Champions League – rather than his boyhood idols Chelsea.
Sources close to the 24-year-old – who has said he does not want to stay at Goodison Park – claim a return to West London remains a burning desire.
Coupled with the intentions of Antonio Conte and Chelsea technical director Michael Emenalo to bring him ‘home’ – United are already at a disadvantage.
Executive vice chairman Ed Woodward’s relationship with Lukaku’s agent Mino Raiola will help.
Together they brokered deals for Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan last summer.
But Lukaku has already made it clear the final decision will be his.
Which is where Mourinho comes in.
Jurgen Klopp has been credited with swinging the race for Virgil van Dijk in the favour of Liverpool – and it may take the personal touch for United to edge Chelsea when it comes to Lukaku.
For all of his brooding displays in front of the camera, Mourinho remains one of the most charismatic figures in the game.
It’s why his personal fortune has been so boosted by marketing partnerships – why he is both reviled and revered by fans. His connection with his players has been pivotal to his success – the camaraderie he engendered with the Chelsea team that was so loved by a teenage Lukaku, one of the most enduring stories of the Premier League era. He will need to sell that dream to a player who dreams of wearing blue, not red. He will need to convince Lukaku that he is building another dynasty at United, with Conte’s Chelsea just one of the victims of his next period of rule. It will not be easy. Chelsea have the advantage of being able to tug on the heartstrings of a player who never wanted to leave in the first place. Mourinho may well want to recharge the batteries after the ‘most difficult’ season of his life. But how much more difficult will next year be, if Lukaku begins it at champions Chelsea, rather than United? James Robson