Manchester United Fan View: Sanchez and Mourinho deals make it a brilliant winter window

To be brutally honest, a lot of Manchester United supporters including myself would believe that there is not much to be happy about at the moment given that Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are running away with the league and no one can do much about it. Though, it’s been a very busy week for the red side of Manchester, with a lot of positive things happening on and off the pitch.

Here are the three things that happened during the week at Manchester United…

Alexis Sanchez’s arrival to Old Trafford

Despite the reports linking him to Chelsea, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, Alexis Sanchez is finally a Manchester United player, and he’s already prepared to help Mourinho’s side to complete the second half of the season to the best of their ability. The transfer between Manchester United and Arsenal was a straight up swap deal, with playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan going the other way.

During the saga, it seemed like the relationship between Sanchez and Guardiola would favour the Chilean in moving to Manchester City, however, the club reportedly chose not to accept the player’s demands and then publicly revealed that they were no longer interested in the attacker. This gave Mourinho an opening of sorts, as the United board were willing to pay anything to bring Sanchez to Old Trafford as well as allow the frustrating and low-in confidence Mkhitaryan leave, who was actually a player that manager Arsene Wenger wanted as part of the deal.

Jose Mourinho’s contract extension until 2020

When it comes to a manager like Jose Mourinho, you get the full package. That includes the good and bad, such as the countless trophies and his masterclass in the press-conferences to blaming others for his constant mistakes and being the main reason to causing a fallout within the dressing room. Nonetheless, he still remains as one of the best managers within the Premier League as well as in the whole of Europe, if you look at what he has done over the last ten years or so.

In the past, Mourinho has not stayed at a football club for more than three years, however, the way he acts and talks about Manchester United during his time here makes the supporters believe that he will be staying at Old Trafford for five to ten years. Given how well he has instantly connected with the club, the players and most importantly with the fans, no other manager in the world could have done a better job than what Mourinho has done so far at United.

Straightforward win away at Yeovil Town in the FA Cup

Focusing now on the only fixture that Mourinho’s men played this week, which was away to Yeovil Town on Friday night. The League Two side actually gave the visitors a troubling time in the first 30 minutes but could not simply handle the class and quality of the team. On top of that, Sanchez made his debut for the side and was the influential individual in both halves of the match.

With the goals coming from Marcus Rashford, Ander Herrera, Jesse Lingard and Romelu Lukaku, the Red Devils made sure a classic cup upset of sorts was not experienced once again after they lost to Bristol City in the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup last month. Also, in the late stages of the fixture, a lot of United supporters got the chance to see youngster Angel Gomes make his second appearance for the first-team, who nearly went on to scoring within his first few moments on the pitch.

Overall, it’s been a fine month so far for Mourinho’s Manchester United as they have won all the games they have played. However, the last fixture of the month is the most important one, with the Red Devils travelling to London to face Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium.