Well as usual the sports pages in many media publications continue to feature numerous stories about potential transfer signings Manchester United are supposed to be interested in making and the trend looks likely to increase as the winter transfer window approaches. The latest rumoured deal as reported by The Sun, suggests that the United boss wants to reunite with his former Chelsea player – Nigerian international captain John Obi Mikel.

John Obi Mikel was supposed to join United back in 2006 to replace club captain Roy Keane in the midfield engine room. As we know of course Obi Mikel ultimately went on to join Chelsea as the Blues paid United £12million and paid his parent club Lyn Oslo £4million to settle the controversial transfer. Chelsea had done a deal with his agent while Obi Mikel and his club had done a deal with United but ultimately the player went to Chelsea even though he had already done a photo shoot in a United shirt.

The defensive minded midfielder went on to win the title twice with Chelsea and added a Champions League as well as 4 FA Cups amongst other honours with the West London club but this season he has not seen a minute of action under Antonio Conte hence his rumoured departure. According to the report Jose Mourinho sees Obi Mikel as the perfect man to sit in front of his back four and protect them as he is very much a defensive minded midfielder. The player’s goal scoring record at Chelsea shows he has only scored once in his 10+ seasons so if the boss wants protection from a player who focuses on defense then Mikel is a great candidate.

The acquisition of John Obi Mikel would seemingly allow the likes of Paul Pogba to focus more on attack and Jose Mourinho has managed the player in both of his spells at Chelsea so knows him very well. Obi Mikel will likely be available for a cut price fee as he is in the last year of his contract so perhaps this move may come off. Time will tell.