Following a few years of turmoil since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure, Manchester United finally seem to have a worthy successor in Jose Mourinho who has reconstructed his squad with notable inclusions like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Eric Bailly and Paul Pogba during the summer.
The Red Devils have shown intent in the transfer market to achieve their preferred options and spent a large chunk of money to acquire their services. As a result, Mourinho now has a decent squad with plenty of backups that helped him to win the EFL Cup and progress steadily in both Premier League and UEFA Europa League – two major competitions simultaneously.
Despite being favourites to win the UEFA Europa League as well as earn a top-four finish in the Premier League campaign, their defence needs reinforcement and a top-notch youngster like Jose Gimenez will be a smart inclusion in Jose’s squad.
At the age of 22, the Uruguayan international is vastly experienced both at club and country level. He is currently having his fourth campaign with La Liga giants Atletico Madrid since his move from Danubio back in 2013.
The 6 ft 1 in centre-back has broken into Atletico’s first team squad to partner his fellow countryman Diego Godin and also replaced veteran Diego Lugano for La Celeste since his debut in 2014 World Cup group stage fixture against England. He has already been capped 30 times for Uruguay and also appeared 67 times for Rojiblancos.
Gimenez is hailed for his hard tackles and physical traits which will help him adjust to the Premier League’s style of football. His tackling, positioning and robustness are the attributes required to shine as a centre-back of highest calibre and quality. However, what he lacks is discipline and tidiness at times that affects his consistency.
Diego Simeone, the Atletico boss, offered him only 14 starts this campaign as he has lost his place to former Manchester City outcast Stefan Savic. Lack of first team football might force him to seek a move elsewhere with several top Premier League outfits interested in the highly rated Uruguayan.
Liverpool and Manchester United are the frontrunners with the later have reportedly shown positive intent to match his £39 million release clause.
Manchester United already have Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Eric Bailly, Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind at the heart of the defence, however, none of them has shown consistency.
Jones has injury concerns, Smalling is having a poor run of form, Bailly is yet to settle in and both Blind and Rojo are not exactly fitting centre-back options in Jose’s style of play.
The addition of Jose Gimenez will strengthen United’s back-line and his vast experience at this age of his career might affix a long term solution for the Red Devils.
