Manchester United brought in Jose Mourinho to replace former boss Louis van Gaal, as the Premier League giants wanted to win more than just an FA Cup. The Red Devils are now looking forward to get back their glorious days, as they wish to win some major titles in the upcoming days. The Portuguese manager is expected to make things right at the club in the upcoming days and has started off well, signing two key players already.
Center-back Eric Bailly signed for the club from La Liga outfit Villarreal a few weeks ago and former Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic joined Mourinho’s side recently as well, as reports confirmed now.
More new players could be moving to Old Trafford in the upcoming days and with the former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss looking to strengthen his squad, United might look to spend big in order to do so.
There will also be quite a few departures from the Manchester based club, as per the speculations going around for quite some time and it will be interesting to see which players have a future under Mourinho and which do not.
One such player who might be possibly confused about what his role in the team might be for next season, would be ex England U-21 international Jesse Lingard, who had eventually cemented a place in the starting eleven under van Gaal.
The 23 year old attacking midfielder, whose crucial goal helped United finally win a title last term before the Dutch manager’s sacking, has impressed in recent times and had earned his spot in the first-team.
However, with Mourinho taking over, it will be quite hard to predict what player will have what role assigned to him. The new United boss has already suggested that he could possibly axe a few players who started under his predecessor from the team, which does not guarantee any star a place in his side, unless they can impress him.
Lingard made 40 appearances for the club in the previous campaign in all competitions, scoring 6 goals along with six assists to his name. He is still quite young and can play in various positions in midfield, including as a center-forward if needed, which would provide Mourinho with more options in the team.
Though it would be obvious that the manager would not want to sell the attacker, he could be sent out of loan with the arrival of Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Borussia Dortmund this summer, though the “Juan Mata” factor could surely influence that decision.
The fact that the Englishman is a good passer of the ball with impeccable vision, which helps him play some brilliant through balls could help him fight for a spot in the first team, though whether or not he can climb up the pecking order once again, remains to be seen.