It’s hard to decide what made Manchester United fans and especially Jose Mourinho happier: The team winning the Community Shield with a Zlatan Ibrahimovic winner, or the Paul Pogba transfer saga finally coming to an end.
Mourinho seems to have rested well during his hiatus from football, which was basically him getting fired and waiting for the Manchester United job to open up. He’s firing quotes, attacking other managers, and basically being his usual self, as if everything is the same, and he’s still infallible, untouchable and perfect. Well, technically, he is perfect, 100% in official matches for United, winning his first title, as minor as it may be, with his new club.
Ibrahimovic didn’t do much during the match, which was quite even and could have gone either way. But he wasn’t signed to do much. He was brought to bring a little bit of his championship magic, and score goals. His 83rd minute header, coming off an Antonio Valencia cross, was the perfect way for the Swedish striker to put an awful Euro behind him, and prove himself instrumental for his new club, on his first match, picking up his first title.
Jesse Lingard scored a nice goal in the first half to put them in front, Marouane Fellaini made an awful mistake allowing Jamie Vardy to score early in the second half, and Wayne Rooney continues to look like someone who isn’t really enjoying what he’s doing, where he’s playing, and who he’s playing for. Once a wonderkid, and for years one of the more consistent footballers in Europe, Rooney looked washed up, tired and frankly, a waste of a place in the lineup.
But probably the bigger news, this still being the summer and the Community Shield being a slightly upgraded friendly, was Pogba arriving in Manchester. It’s been about a month now that it’s been clear he’ll be playing for the Red Devils eventually, only the transfer kept getting held up. Why? Probably agent fees. The terms are quite incredible. Manchester United will pay €105 million over 3 years, and a €5 million bonus. If Pogba renews his contract at Manchester United or is sold for €50 million or more, €5 million will be paid out to Juventus.
Most expensive footballer in history, and he’s someone Manchester United had but couldn’t hang on to, not giving him during his teenage years the playing time he was after. From their opening match and from what we’ve seen during the preseason, central midfielder is certainly a position they need help at. After spreading their spending on a number of players without really getting better, maybe going all out on one of the best CMs in the world will help them get back to where they were before Alex Ferguson retired.