Manchester United should replace Jose Mourinho with Arsene Wenger, according to claims made in the English media on Wednesday.
Jack Otway wrote in the Express that Wenger could provide the answers to United’s problems, even if he can’t seem to do so for Arsenal’s.
He claims young stars like Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial would “flourish” under the French manager. Give Wenger the players and budget to add to his experience and he would be “a huge Old Trafford hit”.
Mourinho certainly isn’t going to win any popularity contests with United fans at the moment. His response to the team’s Champions League exit was to say it wasn’t “something new for the club”. He highlighted how he’d knocked out the Manchester side with Porto and Real Madrid.
The Portuguese manager’s ego comes before everything else in my experience. If that continues, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him leave before long. He’s likely to continue clashing with key players and fans until they get rid of him.
At that point, I can see Otway’s argument that Wenger would give the team an identity. Their current system of putting hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of players behind the ball and hitting team’s on the counter can clearly only take them so far.
I don’t think it will ever actually happen. Wenger managing another English club just doesn’t feel like a possibility. Instead United will hopefully continue to flounder at the level of almost – but not quite – challenging for the top trophies.