Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel has described last summer’s transfer window as ‘the saddest moment in 25 years at the club’.
Jose Mourinho’s side made three signings before the start of this season, with many players said to have rejected a move to Old Trafford.
Manchester United’s nightmare transfer window – What went wrong for Jose Mourinho?
1. The Red Devils secured the signings of Fred, Diogo Dalot and Lee Grant by early June.
2. Mourinho was unhappy during the club’s pre-season tour and made it clear that he felt more signings were required.
3. A centre-back was top of his wish-list, with Harry Maguire, Toby Alderweireld, Yerry Mina and Jerome Boateng all said to have been targets.
4. But United failed to get any deals over the line, leaving Mourinho extremely frustrated.
5. United have a net spend of £302m since the summer of 2016 but are currently eighth in the Premier League table.
Schmeichel spent eight years at United between 1991 and 1999 and many consider him to be the best goalkeeper to have ever played for the club.
Speaking in a detailed interview with Kirsty Gallacher before the 2018 SBC awards on Tuesday – in which Squawka was nominated for Marketing Campaign of the Year at the SBC Awards 2018 and the Man Utd legend was a guest – the Dane was asked about Man Utd, Paul Pogba and Jose Mourinho.
Schemichel claimed that United’s failings in the last window was the saddest moment in a quarter of a century at the club.
“The transfer window that we just had is the saddest moment in 25 years at the club. Players said ‘no’, they didn’t want to play for the club,” Schmeichel said.
“For Jose to come in and clean up. I don’t think he’s in charge of transfers. The Pogba and Mourinho conflict, all the pre-match talk is about that.
“Man Utd is too much about Pogba, he has more than Cantona, he is not delivering. When you don’t deliver, you have a big problem for someone who has that sort of profile.
“He (Mourinho) doesn’t have any power to do anything about it. We see a very sour glum depressed looking guy, he is Man Utd manager, he doesn’t look like he’s enjoying it.”
Interestingly, Schmeichel also suggested that David Moyes, who was the first manager to take the reins at United after the departure of the great Sir Alex Ferguson, should have been afforded more time to implement his ideas at Old Trafford.
“It was always going to be difficult when Sir Alex Ferguson left, I actually still believe Moyes should have had a better opportunity,” he added.
“The CEO stopped at the same time, they were not there to support him. The first transfer window, he has been credited or blamed for signing Fellaini, I think the confidence of Man Utd shuffled.”
Can Mourinho really have any complaints?
Pretty much every club is usually in need of some new faces in the summer transfer window and United were no different before this season.
But Jose Mourinho has spent £392.55m since his arrival at the club in the summer of 2016.
Two of the big investments have been centre-back’s Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof who, like many of United’s players, are in and out of the team every week and simply haven’t done enough to warrant a regular starting spot under Mourinho’s management.
For that reason, it’s no surprise that Ed Woodward and Co. refused to back Mourinho further in the summer by handing him another chunk of money to throw at a centre-back.
Even though Mourinho didn’t get his way, the attitude should have been to forget about the transfer window and focus on getting the best out of a squad that is already full of a lot of very talented players.
Instead, it’s almost been like the United boss has been in a sulk all season. Simply not good enough.
The post ‘The saddest moment in 25 years’ – Peter Schmeichel upset with Man Utd’s summer transfer window appeared first on Squawka News.
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