Manchester United Fan View: Three ways Jose Mourinho can still improve the squad

With one week left until the start of the new Premier League campaign, a lot of Red Devils are underwhelmed over the signings that Jose Mourinho and Manchester United have completed so far this summer.

Despite the arrivals of Victor Lindelof, Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic, Mourinho’s starting line-up still remains quite behind the likes of rival managers in Pep Guardiola, Antonio Conte and arguably Mauricio Pochettino. Not only that, but questions will definitely be asked if the Portuguese manager fails to lead his team to a title challenge after finishing the previous season in sixth place.

‘To get three out of four I thank the club for that. I would be happier if they give me four of four’, were the exact words of the coach following the side’s 2-1 victory over Sampdoria on Wednesday night. It’s quite interesting that Manchester United experienced an exciting summer window last year without Champions League football compared to what they are facing right now.

The big question that should be asked, is whether Manchester United have a superb squad to challenge for the league title as well as have a successful spell in the other competitions?

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Another way to look at it is by remembering that Mourinho has been using the back-three system on a few occasions during the pre-season fixtures, so he’ll need to improve the squad before the season starts due to the injury problems that the club have suffered from over the past couple of years.

Here are a few areas that could be improved on within the next few weeks…

Back-up centre-back

Although United’s first signing this summer was Lindelof from Benfica for a reported figure of £31million, the side still need an upgrade on Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, who have been at the club for over five years and are yet to reach their potential.

Smalling is known to be a clumsy defender, on and off the ball too, whilst Jones has been suffering from injury problems time to time which have hindered his development. Given that Marcos Rojo will remain on the sidelines until the start of the year, United are in need of a centre-back that is reliable and has the capability of filling in as a back-up.

Potential candidates: At this moment of time, the Red Devils have not been linked with any centre-backs from Europe but a realistic option would be Dortmund’s Sokratis Papastathopoulous or Schalke’s Benedikt Howedes. Both individuals ideally have a few top notch seasons left in them due to their age, however, Mourinho’s team could do with a leader and experienced defender within the back line.

Full-back addition

The fans will think that United have enough options in the full-back positions and a new addition is not needed. Antonio Valencia’s displays under Mourinho has proven to be inspiring to some extent whilst both Daley Blind and Matteo Darmian have been covering the left-back role with Luke Shaw facing injury issues as well as going through the manager’s silent treatment on the sidelines.

These days, full-backs play an equal role to the defensive-midfielders and playmakers within the team as they provide the perfect width on the flanks and must have the high energy level of running forward and tracking back to defend for the full match. This is the main reason why Guardiola spent over a sum of £100million on three full-backs in Benjamin Mendy, Danilo and Kyle Walker.

Potential candidates: As of recent weeks, the Red Devils have gathered interest in Serge Aurier, who is expected to have a court case in a couple of days, allowing him to enter the United Kingdom if the result comes out to be successful. And if this budding transfer does not go to plan, Mourinho should hopefully have a backup choice such as Valencia’s Joao Cancelo or Napoli’s Elseid Hysaj.

All-out winger

Manchester United are in need of a winger, whose crossing ability is quality consistent, and can whip the ball perfectly into the box for tall individuals like Lukaku as well as Paul Pogba and Marouane Fellaini. Out of Lukaku’s 27 league goals for Everton last season, six of them were through headers as his aerial ability and physical brilliance stands out the most when he’s in the box against the defenders.

At the moment, Mourinho’s squad has too many inside forwards or centre attacking midfielders that have been placed out on the flanks. Due to this, the style of play at Old Trafford has been pretty obvious on many occasions and it’s led to relying on players like Valencia and Pogba for long balls into the final third.

Potential candidates: Following the links to winger Ivan Perisic over the past months, a deal of sorts doesn’t look to be in place and it could become very difficult for United to look for a new target, especially if they keep the possible signing towards the end of the summer transfer window. On the other hand, recent reports mentioning Gareth Bale and Emil Forsberg would be seen as positive news for the supporters.