Sridhar Bhamidi
With Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho you can be certain of one thing – he will do whatever he can to irk his opponents. That could be taking pot shots at the managers, going for their players or even making his admiration for specific players public.
This time too, he’s back in the news, keeping a keen eye on the developments around David Luiz at Chelsea. The Brazilian defender’s fall-out with his coach Antonio Conte has led to reports linking him with an exit in January transfer window.
According to reports in the Express, the Portuguese tactician is ready to take advantage of the situation and make a shock move for his former protégé.
Luiz, who earns £120,000 a week, had a bust-up with Conte after Chelsea were thumped by Roma 3-0, as the defender seems to have questioned the manager’s tactics. The Italian too didn’t take Luiz’s reaction kindly and dropped him for the match against us before the international break.
That move has reportedly upset Luiz, who is thought to have told his close entourage that his relationship with Conte was beyond repair. The situation is similar to what happened with Diego Costa earlier in the summer as the striker went out of favour with Conte, frozen out of action and then eventually sealed his transfer to Atletico Madrid.
Will Luiz follow the same template? It was Mourinho who sold Luiz to Paris Saint-Germain. He preferred to use Gary Cahill and John Terry as his preferred options at the back, leaving Luiz as a bit-part player.
There were even reports that claimed Mourinho as saying that Luiz “would not be missed at Chelsea”. Luiz responded by taunting that Mourinho was not “special” to him after helping PSG knock Chelsea out of the Champions League in 2015.
However, that seems to be a thing of the past as Mourinho is reportedly impressed with the improvements shown by Luiz last season after returning to Chelsea from PSG.
However, will Chelsea sell Luiz to United? The Blues would be willing to see Luiz depart to a foreign club than join a direct rival. Especially after what happened with the sale of Nemanja Matic in the summer; they’d definitely not want him to join United!
