(Update: via The Guardian “Phil Jones is content to stay at Manchester United, and José Mourinho has no desire to see him leave, despite Stoke City being the latest club to express an interest.”)
We’ve seen a fair share of Manchester United “defender crises” over the past couple seasons as the injury bug has continued to repeatedly bite the back line hard. No one knows this better than Phil Jones, who missed significant time in 2015-16 due to various injuries, including a six week lay off due to a blood clot problem in his leg on the eve of the season.
Even when at full strength, United have had some serious vulnerabilities in their central defense. Chris Smalling is stellar, but the Red Devils haven’t found a true top notch center back to pair him up with.
Although the first signing of the summer, Eric Bailly from Villarreal, could just be that guy. It’s very early in his Red Devils career, but he’s certainly looked the part thus far. Yesterday, the Manchester Evening News had a couple transfer rumors pertaining to United’s defense.
M.E.N. report that United are still interested in Southampton’s Jose Fonte, and that in order to acquire the Saints captain, one of their central defenders will have to be jettisoned, or be sent out on loan. The outlet pegs the 24-year-old Jones, who didn’t make an appearance last season after January 2nd and didn’t feature in either of United’s first two league games.
Jones is reportedly attracting interest from numerous clubs, including Stoke City, who have made their interest in Phil Jones public.
“I remember Sam Allardyce talking about him when he broke through and said he was the new Duncan Edwards,” he told the Stoke Sentinel.
“He did well as a youngster, got the big move, but it hasn’t worked out for him there. I don’t know how close we are or how far down the line it’s gone.
“He’s played the majority of his career at centre-half, but in his younger days he went into midfield as well.
“I don’t know what’s gone wrong, but he’s gone from even a player Fergie [Alex Ferguson] was talking about as being someone who could have been one of the greats.”
“But we have a bit of reputation for bringing players like that into this set up and then thriving. Fingers crossed, something may happen.”
Despite what the Stoke coach said there about how “something may happen,” there have been multiple reports saying that United have no interest in selling him.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
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