5 players who could leave Manchester United after the FA Cup final
When Jose Mourinho became manager of Manchester United in 2016, he inherited a squad that needed a number of structural changes. It's an inevitable situation that the club had brought on themselves with the lack of vision and the rapid churn of personnel from the David Moyes and Louis Van Gaal reigns.
The club had gone from the epitome of stability to the stupor of haphazardness until Mourinho took charge and gradually brought some method and direction. For continuing the march towards old glories, United will need to refresh their squad once more.
While he has managed to shift much of the deadwood (apologies to Bastian Schweinsteiger, who in his prime was one of the greatest midfield generals of all time), Mourinho has recently made a very pointed reference to some players still in the squad, who may not 'make it' under him at the Theatre of Dreams.
Here, we look at 5 players who may well be making their last appearance for Manchester United on Saturday in the 2018 FA Cup final.
#5 Chris Smalling - Market value 18 million euros
Mourinho already has his warriors at United in Phil Jones and Eric Bailly. Both of Smalling’s managers, Gareth Southgate at international level and Mourinho at club level, seem to think he is not good enough on the ball, so the ball playing mantle will fall on Victor Lindelof and most likely a shiny new signing at central defence. The implication is that Smalling is in no man’s land which makes him a likely candidate for the chop before the beginning of next season.