Nemanja Matic signs 3-year deal with Manchester United

Manchester United have made their third signing of the season, picking up defensive midfielder Nemanja Matić from league champions Chelsea. The 28-year-old has moved for a fee of around £40m — or four-fifths of a Torres — and has signed a three-year deal with an option to extend for an extra year.

Having played at Chelsea as a youngster, then left for Benfica, Matić was brought back to Stamford Bridge in 2014-15 by a certain José Mourinho. He won a title in that first season back, then another last season under Antonio Conte, and has been more or less a first team fixture throughout his time at Chelsea.

United's transformation into a Mourinho side continues

Unlike the majority of United's signings over the last couple of windows, Matić, at nearly 29 years old and with years of Premier League experience, has not been bought with one eye on the future. He's been bought to stiffen up United's midfield for the next three seasons and allow Paul Pogba to get on with his more creative duties.

He is, it's safe to say, a Mourinho player. This is the second time that United's coach has brought him to a club, and last time, as Matić returned to Chelsea from Portugal, his coach was explicit on what he liked about the player and why he shouldn't have been sold in the first place. "If I was here, a left-footed player — 1.95m tall, a midfielder — would never, never, never leave. Never."

And the squad players can return to the bench where they belong

United definitely needed a central midfielder of defensive inclination this summer: Michael Carrick, though he's extended his deal for another year, is getting on quite a lot now, and Marouane Fellaini was starting far too many games for comfort.

The concern for United fans will be what this means for the team's style. Matić may end up being a Carrick replacement, but he is, first and foremost, a destructive player. He's hard to get excited about. And while a football team can't be entirely free-spirited and always needs somebody to do the boring, sensible stuff, there's a sense that as a player, Matić is Mourinholicious in all the ways that United fans find worrying. Solid. Sensible. Aesthetically unambitious.

That said, he played pretty much every important game for Chelsea last season, and they were plenty entertaining. Maybe it's the manager who's really the problem here. Ultimately, if he manages to provide Pogba with a decent platform and plenty of ball, that should be fun.

What even are transfer fees? We just don't know

Forty million quid plus (presumably) six-figure weekly wages, for an experienced title-winning midfielder who should, age-wise, be at about his peak. Or for a slow, uninspiring stopper to add to a midfield that was already plenty sluggish. Still, he's 1.95m tall and left-footed, if that's what you're in to. Sounds fine. Or maybe terrible? Or ... both?

It's been obvious for the last couple of years that transfer fees make no sense. They don't make sense when you compare them to things outside football, obviously, but they often don't make sense within football either. Plenty of other midfielders will move this summer for less, and they might have done an equal or better job, and there will be spluttering.

But ultimately, Manchester United are spending large money on a central midfielder because (a) he's a player whom their manager likes, (b) they've a gap to fill in midfield, and (c) they're Manchester United. Of course they're spending what sounds like a small fortune. They know nothing else.

One in, one out in Chelsea's midfield?

Matić was a regular last season, but Chelsea have already brought in a replacement in the shape of Tiemoué Bakayoko from Monaco. He'll compete with N'Golo Kanté and Cesc Fàbregas for the central midfield spots in Conte's 3-4-3.

That said, Chelsea do have European football to cope with this season, so perhaps a little more depth will be required. Nathaniel Chalobah has moved to Watford permanently, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek will spend the season on loan at Crystal Palace, so Chelsea might still have a little business left to do.

As for United, Morgan Schneiderlin's January departure started to look a little unwise as the injuries bit, and it's that hole that Matić will fill. As such, there's no real pressing need to sell, and it would be a surprise if anybody wanted out. And we found out recently that Fellaini has some part to play yet, for good or ill. Mourinho loves him. And what Mourinho wants, at the moment, Mourinho gets.