Manchester United: 4 World Class Transfer Targets Reported

It’s bad enough that we’re quoting tabloids for this story. Even worse that it’s a tabloid report based on another tabloid report.

But the salient point here is to consider the potential effect of Zinedine Zidane becoming the manager of Manchester United. He’s only had one stint as the manager of a top level club and it was in a league that he’s very familiar with, having played in it for much of his career.

But the prospect of the great Frenchman taking over Manchester United and letting that handbrake off is still very attractive indeed to many fans.

Quite what Jose Mourinho has to lose by adopting similar tactics at this point in his career remains a mystery. He’s been criticised for his pragmatic and defensive style of play for so long that he must feel like going a bit more gung-ho. After all football is supposed to be a game and a spectacle and Mourinho has a mouth-watering group of attacking players at his disposal.

One can only surmise that Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp would seriously attempt to get as many of Mata, Martial, Rashford, Sanchez, Pogba and Lingard on the pitch at the same time as humanly possible.

To be fair to Mourinho, a lot more players were committed forward in the Burnley game than we have seen at Manchester United in years. We can’t remember the last time United had 21 shots in a game against a Premier League side and this was much easier on the eye than much of the dross served up over the last 5 years.

But there remains a feeling that Jose is only a few defeats away from the exit door and few would argue if Zidane took the reins.

The Daily Mail writes today (via The Daily Mirror) that:

Zinedine Zidane ‘compiles list of transfer targets’ as Frenchman gets himself ready for Manchester United job if Jose Mourinho is axed

Zinedine Zidane has a list of players he would like to bring to Manchester United

Toni Kroos, Thiago Alcantara, James Rodriguez and Edinson Cavani are on it

Cavani is technically better than Lukaku, who works hard but gets found out against the best sides. Kroos and Alcantara might be expected to add the sort of passing quality, technical mastery and ball control that the midfield has too often lacked in the last half decade. And James Rodriguez is the sort of player who Manchester United fans would adore but who Jose Mourinho seems to find surplus to requirements in his workmanlike and physical teams.

TFF believes that Jose is showing signs of turning the corner and that Manchester United will still provide a title challenge this season.

But the football probably won’t be pretty and, to that end, Zidane may well be the longer term answer.