Jose Mourinho's Manchester United signings assessed
Which players shone and who flopped?
Tuesday 18 December 2018 16:42, UK
Manchester United brought in 10 players during Jose Mourinho's spell in charge, but how do you rate the signings?
United's recruitment is under the microscope following Mourinho's sacking on Tuesday.
Take a look at each of the signings below and have your say on them with our interactive vote.
Eric Bailly - £30m from Villarreal, June 2016
Bailly was Jose Mourinho's first signing as United manager. The defender arrived with considerable potential, but with only 40 top-flight appearances under his belt, he was not the kind of experienced, ready-made addition Mourinho typically favours.
He has shown potential at times, but failed to kick on in his two years at Old Trafford and Mourinho's attitude towards him was shown when midfielder Scott McTominay was chosen ahead of him in defence in September's 3-1 loss at West Ham.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - free transfer, July 2016
It was a no-brainer for Mourinho and Ibrahimovic to link up again given the big Swedish forward notched 25 league goals during their one season together at Inter Milan.
Nobody could argue with his return of 28 goals in all competitions in his first season at United, either. His cruciate knee injury sidelined him after that, but he departed for LA Galaxy having made a valuable contribution.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan - £26.3m from Borussia Dortmund, July 2016
United lacked pace on the right when Mourinho arrived and he set about fixing that straight away by signing Borussia Dortmund's Mkhitaryan, a player who was as adept at picking a pass as he was at beating his man.
But he started only 15 times in the Premier League his first season at Old Trafford, and while there were some important goals on United's run to Europa League glory, his inconsistency ended up costing him.
There was a handful of goals and assists in the first half of the 2017/18 campaign, but he moved to Arsenal as part of the deal which took Alexis Sanchez to Old Trafford in January having only shown flashes of his best form.
Paul Pogba - £89m from Juventus, August 2016
Mourinho's kryptonite. He and Pogba never seem to have seen eye to eye and their relationship began to deteriorate after the midfielder was dropped for a meeting with Huddersfield Town in February last season.
Pogba's comments in the press have strongly hinted at a breakdown in relations since then.
Mourinho attempted to patch things up by naming Pogba as captain in United's first two games of the season, but it backfired when he publicly stripped him of the vice-captaincy in September.
Victor Lindelof - £30.7m from Benfica, July 2017
Mourinho had high hopes for Lindelof, describing him as a "very talented young player" with a "great future ahead of him" when he arrived from Portuguese giants Benfica, but he has struggled with the step up so far.
The Sweden international only made 13 Premier League starts last season, making a number of errors as he struggled to hold down a place in the team, and he has continued in the same vein this season.
Romelu Lukaku - £75m from Everton, July 2017
Lukaku cost United a lot more than Mourinho sold him for when Chelsea manager four years ago, but equally the manager has got a lot more out of him this time around.
Whether Lukaku has the clinical finishing ability to match some of United's best strikers of the past is up for debate, but 33 goals in 73 games in all competitions represents an impressive return.
Nemanja Matic - £40m from Chelsea, August 2017
Another reunion and another no-brainer for Mourinho. Matic was a key member of Mourinho's title-winning Chelsea team in 2014/15 and he did not hesitate to make the move to Old Trafford when the opportunity arose.
There was no repeat of that title win at United, of course, but the Serb will go down as one of their better buys under Mourinho.
Alexis Sanchez - Part-exchange from Arsenal, January 2018
Sanchez's determination and drive looked like it might lend itself to a Mourinho team in and out of possession, but he has never looked likely to replicate the brilliant form he showed for so much of his time at Arsenal.
After he was dropped for Anthony Martial when United lost at West Ham, Mourinho made the extraordinary claim that the decision had been in response to United fans' wishes.
Diogo Dalot - £19m from Porto, June 2018
Signing and developing young players might not be a speciality, but Dalot impressed on his debut against Young Boys in the Champions League in September and earned high praise from Mourinho, who said he could be United's right back for the next decade.
He certainly looks set to outlast his manager by a long stretch. He does not turn 20 until March.
Fred - £52m from Shakhtar Donetsk, June 2018
A protracted chase for Fred finally ended in June when he chose United over their cross-town rivals Manchester City, but he has not lit up their midfield as Mourinho might have hoped.
There have been some encouraging displays from the form Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder, but it is fair to say he is still adapting to his new surroundings. Mourinho's successor will hope to see more from him.
