Jose Mourinho may change his plans about signing a new defender in January following the excellent form of Phil Jones for his team.
The Mirror report that the return of Eric Bailly from injury, plus Phil Jones’ steady form since his own rehabilitation and the presence of Marcos Rojo, means that Mourinho is no longer desperate for cover in January.
“They are playing better than ever and now we have a third centre half to rotate,” Mourinho said.
“With Bailly we have a third central defender and hopefully we can manage with those three until the end of the year.”
It is fair to assume that by the end of the year he Man U manager means the end of the season, at which point there will be a much greater selection of defenders on the market, all for more reasonable prices. Given that the title may already be beyond them and there’s no Champions League to fight for, it seems a reasonable and sensible decision to make.
Mourinho also emphasised the effect that working with one of his physical trainers had had on Phil Jones, reminding the press that Jones had now played 6 games in a row, a pretty rare feat for the injury prone Englishman.