Virgil van Dijk
Jose Mourinho might be one of the greatest managers of this generation but his time at Manchester United didn’t end well.
The Portuguese landed a Europa League crown with the Red Devils but saw them plummet in the previous campaign.
The team seemed to lack something as the poor results continued and he was ultimately replaced by former striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The Norwegian is also finding it difficult to rack up the wins and signed Harry Maguire for a world record fee (h/t BBC).
However, United could have signed another top defender prior to Maguire, but Mourinho didn’t move for the star.
The Independent (h/t Metro) claims that Virgil van Dijk was seen as a possible signing for the Red Devils but Mourinho decided he didn’t want another centre-back.
The Dutch defender ended up joining Liverpool and this missed opportunity will hurt United.
Van Dijk was a good defender during his time at Southampton but he has taken his game to another level at Liverpool.
The Dutch defender has transformed their back-line and the Reds were the best defence in the Premier League last season.
United struggled to keep clean sheets in the previous campaign, and have conceded a goal in all their games barring the opener against Chelsea.
It isn’t that United didn’t move for a defender or paid the big bucks after missing out on Van Dijk.
Maguire is a quality addition to the team, alongside Aaron Wan-Bissaka, however, Van Dijk is playing on another level and has won several individual accolades for his performances over the past 18 months.
The Englishman is a couple of years younger than Van Dijk, and it will be interesting to see how he develops at Old Trafford.
However, Van Dijk is possibly the best centre-back in the world and his presence in the United team would have solved a lot of problems at the back.
Liverpool were shaky without a commanding centre-back and they also had to move for a quality goalkeeper to solve their problems.
United already had one of the best keepers in the world in David de Gea, and it would have been great seeing Van Dijk play in front of the Spaniard.
Maguire could still turn out to be a fantastic signing for the Red Devils in a year or two, but Van Dijk would have hit the ground running had he joined under Mourinho.
The Red Devils haven’t always missed out when trying to sign top players, but not getting the Dutchman is a major error from the management.
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