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Romelu Lukaku of AS Roma

Where are they now? The 11 signings Jose Mourinho made as Man Utd boss

Ben Stewart •

Jose Mourinho spent two and a half years at Manchester United and signed 11 players during that time – but what kind of legacy did they leave at Old Trafford?

The Portuguese boss spent over £350million on new signings and his overall tenure was a bit of a mixed bag. He did manage to get his hands on three trophies, although things quickly turned sour in his third season.

We’ve gone back and checked up on the 11 signings that Mourinho made during his time at United and have checked up on what they are up to these days.

Paul Pogba

The Red Devils spent a record fee of £89.3million to re-sign Pogba in 2016, just four years after he had left Old Trafford to join Juventus on a free transfer.

His return to the Premier League was a mixed spell as he and Mourinho often clashed with their conflicting personalities. After racking up over 200 appearances for the club, Pogba departed for Juventus once again in 2022 where he still plays to this day.

However, Pogba’s return to Turin hasn’t gone well. He spent the vast majority of his debut season on the sidelines and he is now facing a lengthy suspension due to an alleged doping offence.

Romelu Lukaku

The Belgian forward has scored goals wherever he has played. Despite not being at his prolific best while at Old Trafford, he still managed to score 42 goals in 96 appearances for United which isn’t too shabby.

Mourinho clearly sees the value in Lukaku too as he has since linked up with the striker at Roma. The 30-year-old has scored nine goals in 14 appearances under Mourinho this season and looks to be getting back to his best.

“Romelu needs to feel loved and wanted,” Mourinho told reporters in September. “When he came here, he could sense the team needed a player like him. He likes to win – that’s in his nature. I think he’s really happy.”

Roma's head coach Jose Mourinho speaks to Roma's Romelu Lukaku during a Serie A soccer match between Roma and Empoli

READ: Ranking Jose Mourinho’s most loyal soldiers: Lukaku, Mata, Essien…

Fred

The Brazilian midfielder never played his best football under Mourinho, but thankfully Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erik ten Hag managed to get more of a tune out of him.

Fred called it quits on his United career in the summer and secured a move to Fenerbahce. He seems to have settled in well to his new surroundings as Fenerbahce currently top the Turkish Super Lig.

Nemanja Matic

Another one of Mourinho’s loyal decibels. The Portuguese boss managed Matic at Chelsea, United and he recently had him at Roma too. The physical Serbian midfielder was the perfect Mourinho-type player and it’s no wonder they took such a shine to each other.

Matic spent just one season with Mourinho at Roma before moving on to Rennes in the summer. The 35-year-old is still going strong in France and has been one of Rennes’ best players so far.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

Mkhitaryan never quite lived up to the billing in the Premier League, but United fans will always have fond memories of that scorpion kick he scored against Fulham.

Like several other players Mourinho managed at United, he also got the chance to work with Mkhitaryan at Roma where he was much more productive.

These days you can catch him playing for Inter Milan as he continues to produce the goods in Italy. Given his technical skills, we still think the 34-year-old has a few years at the top level left in him yet.

Eric Bailly

Had it not been for injuries, who knows how good Bailly could have gone on to become for United. After barely kicking a ball in his final few years at United, he made the move to Besiktas in the summer.

The 29-year-old hasn’t had a great start to his career in Turkey either. He has only played 247 minutes of league football and was recently involved in an on-pitch bust-up with one of his teammates which he has since apologised for.

“Competitive tension pushes us to greater success, and that is all we want,” Bailly wrote on Instagram.

“We all want to win and want the best. I apologise to the manager, my team-mates and Besiktas family for my mistake. Heads up and focus on the next one.”

Victor Lindelof

The Swedish defender is one of the only players that Mourinho signed who is still playing at United to this day. Under Ten Hag, Lindelof has been in and out of the starting XI but he is usually a solid performer.

Mourinho and Lindelof haven’t always seen eye-to-eye as the former United boss took the opportunity to aim a subtle dig at the defender while on punditry duty for Sky Sports in 2019.

“Lindelof is very, very good in some aspects of the game,” Mourinho said. “But he can be bullied in the one-on-one in the box, he’s not especially good in the air and Maguire has that kind of presence and physicality that is very, very important.”

Diogo Dalot

The Portuguese full-back is the only other Mourinho signing who is still at the club. Mourinho signed Dalot back in 2018 for a reported fee of £19million.

On the whole, Dalot has been a solid performer during his time at Old Trafford, although he perhaps hasn’t quite hit the lofty heights that were first expected when he arrived.

Alexis Sanchez

It’s a shame United fans never got to see the best of Sanchez as the former Arsenal star looked like a shadow of his former self while playing at Old Trafford.

He only lasted a year and a half at the Theatre of Dreams and thankfully he’s looked more like his usual self recently. He enjoyed a prolific season with Marseille last time around and is now back with Inter Milan.

Lee Grant

Mourinho signed the experienced Grant as a backup goalkeeper in 2018 for a reported fee of £1.5million. He went on to make just two appearances for the club before announcing his retirement last year.

The 40-year-old has since gone into coaching and now works at Championship outfit Ipswich Town alongside former United coach Kieran McKenna.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Football doesn’t quite feel the same without Zlatan. United fans will treasure the memories from the 2016–17 season which saw Ibrahimovic score 28 goals across all competitions under Mourinho.

After enjoying a remarkable career which spanned four different decades, he finally decided to hang up his boots earlier this year. They simply don’t make them like Ibrahimovic anymore.

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