Football Season Guide

Despite the decent second place last term coach Mourinho has been growing in frustration ever since the January transfer window and all signs coming from him this summer are that he is at war with United’s Board and some of his players. With the team’s Chief Scout Ribalta also departing United at the end of July the transfer activity of the team is not expected to improve much and one thing that Mourinho is right about is that with the current group of players he will need miracles in order to compete with the star selections of Man City and Liverpool. All of Martial, Pogba, Darmian and Rojo are also heavily linked with transfers away, which is also a clear sign that there is unrest in the dressing room. In comparison only Fred from the three new arrivals is likely to be regular starter. United’s early rounds will also be heavily affected by the huge number of World Cup participants in their squad and the six serious injuries sustained during the tour in the USA. Having a relatively small squad Mourinho is expected to struggle rotating his players when the Champions League starts too, but still the Red Devils have a very impressive starting line-up if all main players are fit. Rashford and Sanchez are expected to occupy the two wings, with Lukaku hoping to show much better conversion rate in the big games this season. Pogba is unlikely to be allowed to leave, but the sensitive Frenchman has been struggling psychologically with the constant attacks from the British press and he will have to find a way to shut all that out and focus on his game. As the World Cup showed Pogba could be a key figure if he is having fun on the pitch. Fred, Matic, Fellaini and Herrera provide a solid backbone in the heart of the midfield, while De Gea is likely to continue keeping plenty of clean sheets. That said United’s defence seem to be weakened at the full-back positions this season. The injury-prone Shaw and the converted midfielder Young are the main choices at left-back, while both right-backs Valencia and Dalot start the campaign sidelined and it is yet to be seen if they will find top form during the campaign.