Jose Mourinho has taken giant steps to make Manchester United the tallest side in Prem top six
United boss has now signed six six-footers in his last seven transfers after 6ft 4in Nemanja Matic’s £40m arrival from Chelsea
AT 6ft 4in tall, Nemanja Matic is the perfect fit for Manchester United.
His arrival also makes them the tallest side in the Prem’s top six — with an average height of more than 6ft.
United boss Jose Mourinho has now signed six six-footers in his last seven transfers after Matic’s £40million arrival from Chelsea.
Only Henrikh Mkhitaryan comes up short, at 5ft 11in, yet he has hardly been given top billing by Mourinho.
Jose’s giants will be an intimidating sight this season, yet it is no coincidence he is signing some big boys.
A lack of height was a weakness during Louis van Gaal’s disastrous spell in charge — and he admitted in April 2015 it was causing a defensive headache.
Now Mourinho is trying to fix it to mount a title bid.
Back then, only four of United’s outfield players were more than 6ft and two of those were defenders — Chris Smalling and Jonny Evans.
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At the time, Dutchman LVG admitted: “We have a big deficit in height. When you speak with a basketball coach, one or two centimetres are very important and, in football, it is the same.
“When you see the stats, a third or fourth of all the goals a team scores are from set-plays, so height is vital.”
Mourinho responded by signing Paul Pogba (6ft 3in), Eric Bailly (6ft 2in) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (6ft 4in) during his first summer.
And the additions of Matic, Romelu Lukaku (6ft 3in) and Victor Lindelof (6ft 2in) have continued that trend — but will it do any good?
Antonio Conte’s Chelsea won the title with a squad averaging 6ft in height.
And Leicester City triumphed the previous season with a team averaging 5ft 11in.
But during his second spell at Chelsea, Mourinho did have the tallest squad in the Premier League when he won the title in 2014-15.
He has always had a fondness for towering midfielders, such as 6ft-plus Michael Ballack, Sami Khedira and now Matic.
Mourinho’s model is no doubt more suited to the Prem — and could explain why his opposite number at Manchester City has struggled to adapt.
Pep Guardiola started life at City by sticking to what he knew best. The only problem is the Premier League is not La Liga, where Lionel Messi-style mini-maestros flourish.
It was perhaps no surprise City started last season fielding the Prem’s smallest squad.
The average height for a City side in Guardiola’s first month in charge was 5ft 9in.
But it appears the Spaniard learnt his lesson after a trophyless first English season.
His summer signings Kyle Walker (6ft), Danilo (6ft) and Benjamin Mendy (6ft 1in) should beef up his team.
As for the rest of the Prem, West Brom and Crystal Palace boast a considerable number of tall players, as did Middlesbrough last season, and that did not work out particularly well.
Big is not always beautiful but history suggests, when it comes to Mourinho, buying big certainly seems to work.
