José Mourinho reportedly interested in taking Nemanja Matić to Spurs

José Mourinho is new Tottenham Hotspur manager, having apparently “blown away” the club’s management with claims that he has spent the past year developing “a new football strategy and philosophy”. So says the Independent’s chief football writer Miguel Delaney, in an intriguing article published online on Wednesday. Delaney adds that Mourinho said much of the same to the United bosses before being appointed back in 2016.

Quite how progressive that new philosophy actually is remains to be seen, not least because Mourinho is said to be interested in taking Manchester United defensive midfielder Nemanja Matić with him to White Hart Lane. According to Delaney, Matić was one of the players Mourinho “specifically name-checked” in his meeting with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.

Matić, suffice to say, was hardly the most progressive player, even in his pomp. Now 31, the defensive midfielder has looked increasingly immobile and ineffective since joining United from Chelsea in Mourinho’s first season in charge. The Serbian has been handed only two league starts by Ole Gunnar Solskjær this season, and United probably aren’t any worse for it. If Mourinho really does want to take him to Spurs, we’re sceptical that the leopard really has changed its spots.