As time goes on, the more Manchester United fans will look back at Jose Mourinho’s reign with fondness.
The Portuguese described coming second to Manchester City during the 2017/18 season as the biggest achievement of his career. He did also land the most underwhelming of trebles in the form of the Community Shield, League Cup and Europa League.
What United fans would give for a treble of any capacity right now, though.
During his two-and-a-half years in charge, Mourinho certainly wasn’t afraid of upsetting anyone.
In fact, during his spell, he offloaded 15 first-team players who he deemed surplus to requirements.
How have those 15 players fared since? Well, with help from Manchester Evening News, we’ve asked: ‘Where are they now?’
Nick Powell
Powell signed from League Two Crewe as an 18-year-old after impressing Sir Alex Ferguson. He played nine first-team appearances at Old Trafford but, after numerous loan spells, left for Wigan on a free transfer in 2016. Three years later, he joined Stoke where he’s a first-team regular in the Championship, scoring three goals in eight appearances.
Victor Valdes
Mourinho and Valdes had history that stemmed back to Inter Milan’s victory over Barcelona back in 2010 so perhaps it wasn’t too surprising to see the goalkeeper leave United when ‘The Special One’ arrived. Valdes spent the 2016-17 season at Middlesbrough before retiring.
Will Keane
Interestingly, Keane was supposed to start ahead of Marcus Rashford against FC Midtjylland in 2016 before getting injured. The rest of history as far as Rashford is concerned. But for Keane, he played three times for United before a host of loan spells in the Championship. He joined Hull in 2016, then Ipswich and now the striker finds himself at Wigan.
Tyler Blackett
Blackett played 12 times for the Red Devils, one of which came in the 5-3 defeat to Leicester where he conceded a penalty and was sent off. He joined Reading in 2016 but left for Nottingham Forest this summer.
Paddy McNair
During the 2014/15 season, McNair played 16 times in the Premier League under Louis van Gaal. But he was never given an opportunity by Mourinho. He joined Sunderland in 2016 before moving to north-east rivals Middlesborough in 2018.
Memphis Depay
Depay arrived at Old Trafford extremely highly-rated but two goals in 33 Premier League appearances saw him sold to Lyon for £22 million in 2017. Perhaps Mourinho should have given the Dutchman more of an opportunity because he’s been brilliant in France and has been heavily linked with a move to Barcelona.
Morgan Schneiderlin
Schneiderlin’s Manchester United career was pretty forgetful. After arriving for £25 million in 2015, the Frenchman left for Everton a year later. He’s now in France with Nice having signed for them last summer.
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Mourinho banished Schweinsteiger at United and made it clear he didn’t want anything to do with him. The German remained professional and eventually forced his way back into the first-team. But he was already past his best and moved to Chicago Fire in the MLS in 2017, where he remained until his retirement in October 2019.
Adnan Januzaj
Big things were expected of Januzaj as he was one of very few bright sparks during the David Moyes reign. But he didn’t kick on under Mourinho and was sold Real Sociedad in the summer of 2017. The Belgian has since played 90 times for the Spanish club.
Wayne Rooney
The Manchester United legend made the emotional return to Everton in 2017 before moving to the MLS with D.C. United a year later. But at the start of this year, he came back to England with Derby County, where he looked set to become the club’s player/manager after Philippe Cocu’s sacking.
Guillermo Varela
The Uruguayan right-back played 11 times for United but returned to Penarol in 2017. He then joined Copenhagen, where he played against the Red Devils last season but is now in Russia with Dynamo Moscow.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Mkhitaryan was infamously involved in one of the worst swap-deals in football history. The Armenian went to Arsenal as Alexis Sanchez moved to the Theatre of Dreams. Sanchez was terrible and Mkhitaryan wasn’t much better for the Gunners. He moved permanently to Roma after a successful loan spell.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
A serious knee injury ended Zlatan’s United career and looked to end his entire career. However, he joined LA Galaxy in March 2018 and scored an incredible 52 goals in 56 matches. Now 39, he’s still going strong for AC Milan, notching 18 in 23 matches. Incredible.
Daley Blind
Mourinho allowed Blind to return to Ajax in 2018, where he’s overcome health scares to play almost 100 times in his second spell for his boyhood club.
Sam Johnstone
It was always going to be difficult for Johnson to make a name for himself at Man Utd with David de Gea between the sticks. After numerous loan spells, he signed permanently for West Brom in 2018, where he’s now playing Premier League football.
