Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho looks likely to field an unconvincing central defensive partnership for his side’s Premier League opener against Leicester City this evening.
The Red Devils were notably linked with a number of defenders this summer, though as reported in the Guardian and numerous other sources, Mourinho’s targets were largely vetoed.
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The Portuguese can feel somewhat justified in looking less than pleased with life throughout much of pre-season as a lack of new additions arrived, as it’s now reported he looks set to use Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof as his two centre-backs tonight.
Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News has tweeted that there’s a good chance that’ll be the pairing Mourinho goes with against Leicester, and that it would only be the second time the duo have started a match alongside each other.
Good chance Lindelof and Bailly will start together for only the second time tonight for #mufc.
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) August 10, 2018
This is hardly encouraging for United as they need to get off to a strong start if they are to have any chance of improving on last season, when they were barely in the title race; despite finishing second in the table, they were a whopping 19 points behind Manchester City in the end.
With a defence like this coming out this evening, one can see why United could really have done with signing someone else at the back.