Man United Transfers: 7 Players Mourinho Still Needs To Get Rid Of

3. Phil Jones

When Phil Jones signed for Man United in 2011, he was hailed as the next big thing. Pinched from Blackburn for a hefty sum of £17 million, the unphotogenic centre-half was earmarked as Chris Smalling’s defensive partner for club and country for the next decade.

We’re halfway through that decade, and while the latter has continued that upwards career trajectory, Jones finds himself toiling by the wayside.

Don’t laugh, but there was a time when Sir Alex Ferguson once forecast that the former Blackburn defender would become ‘our greatest ever player’. For a man who went on to downplay the talents of at least a dozen genuine world stars in his declaration that he only worked with a handful of world-class players during his 23 years at Old Trafford, that was quite a sweeping statement.

Jones is 24 now, and has played just 104 games in an injury-ravaged half-decade at the club. With the addition of Eric Bailly and the return to form of Antonio Valencia at right-back, does he fit into Mourinho’s plans?