The Portuguese is likely to be the driving force of the Red Devils' transfer campaign, but history shows that his record in the market is not spotless
For many, the appointment of Jose Mourinho is as close to a guarantee of success as Manchester United could have hoped for. A two-time Champions League conqueror and winner of eight domestic league titles, the Portuguese was undoubtedly the star prospect on the management market once Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti had revealed their plans for the 2016-17 season and beyond.
Beyond his ability to fill up trophy cabinets, the ‘Special One’ also has a charisma and self-confidence that few other leaders in the sport are able to display, and such a suave and magnetic character could be exactly the kind of public relations boost United need after three years of poor results and public bungles.
Mourinho’s success and his sophistication have often bought him a free pass from criticism, aside from when he has overstepped the mark with his abrasive and sometimes obnoxious behaviour. Indeed, he has regularly used his powers to stir up an argument to mask shortcomings within his squad or even his own body of work.
But just as Sir Alex Ferguson had his Massimo Taibis and William Pruniers, Mourinho himself has had a number of notable misses alongside a string of hits in the market. And with the Old Trafford board ready to splash the cash in support of their new manager, they will be hoping that he delivers more often than not.
His ability to build title-winning squads has seen him snap up the likes of Diego Milito for Inter, Cesc Fabregas for Chelsea and Angel Di Maria for Real Madrid, but there have been glaring failures too.
Over two spells in west London he signed names such as Mateja Kezman, Jiri Jarosik and Juan Cuadrado for not inconsiderable sums, only to see each fall flat on their faces in the Chelsea shirt. Players such as Maniche, Marco van Ginkel and Loic Remy were also failures at Stamford Bridge, while the £2.7 million purchase of Papy Djilobodji from Nantes in 2015 goes down as one of the most bizarre moves of Mourinho’s career.





At Madrid, too, Mourinho failed to make the best of great talents, with Pedro Leon and Fabio Coentrao notable flops under the Portuguese. And while the 53-year-old spent two successful seasons in Italy with Inter, building a formidable treble-winning side in his second campaign, it was not without a few hiccups along the way.
The €13m move for Roma’s Amantino Mancini quickly turned into an unmitigated disaster, while a further €13m went on the signing of Cagliari forward David Suazo. Inter even battled Milan behind the scenes to land a player who would go on to score only eight times in 41 appearances for the club.
Undoubtedly the stand-out failure in the market at San Siro was the €24.6m splash on Porto’s Ricardo Quaresma, who would play only 24 times for the Nerazzurri. While he wasn’t wanted by the board, Mourinho insisted on them paying out for his compatriot. “I respect their opinion on Quaresma, but mine is different,” said Mourinho. “His pace, his quality, his dribbling could be very useful and I have been saying this for months.”
It didn’t take long, though, for the coach to realise his mistake, and Quaresma was soon ostracised by Mourinho for his tendency to shirk hard work. “My biggest regret was joining Inter,” the winger admitted later. “My happiness and self-confidence were taken away from me. At one point I wasn’t even called up any more. I felt on the margins of the squad and woke up crying when I had to attend training sessions.” 
He has become prone to giving up on potential superstars too, especially during his most recent spell at Chelsea. The decision to sell Kevin De Bruyne to Wolfsburg after only five starts in the blue shirt was soon made to look foolish thanks to the Belgian’s fantastic form in Germany which would later earn him a £57m move to Manchester City.
Romelu Lukaku and, notably, Juan Mata are others who have found their road into the Chelsea first team blocked by Mourinho, with the Spaniard in particular being left feeling hard done by following back-to-back Player of the Year awards. His exclusion on the grounds of not doing enough work off the ball soon led to a transfer to Manchester United, and Mata must now wonder what the future holds with his former foe rocking up at Old Trafford.
There can be little doubting Mourinho’s pedigree as a manager, and there is every chance he could be a huge success with United. But if he is given complete control of transfer policy then the Old Trafford side had better brace themselves for a few bumps in the road along the way.