2017/18 was a strange season for Manchester United. Perhaps it was the margin by which City won the title that made it seems as though United’s second place didn’t really count for much. Perhaps it was the rather underwhelming defeat by Sevilla in the Last 16 of the Champions’ League. Or perhaps it was simply that Jose Mourinho seemed to spend much of the year at odds with everyone — himself included. Whatever the reason, when the history of United in 2017/18 comes to be written, one suspects it won’t rank especially highly in the club’s annals.
As always seems to be the case with Mourinho, much of the discussion about the club’s performance focused on him. Many fans, brought up watching a United side for whom domination of the opposition seemed to be in their DNA, found it hard to accept Mourinho’s cautious tactics and seemingly irrational team selections throughout much of the last campaign.
There have been occasions during his two-year reign at Old Trafford when it has looked as though Mourinho would not survive in the role. The odds of his being shown the door shortened significantly, for instance, in September 2016 when United lost three games in a row.
However, despite his ups and downs and at times fractious relations with the fans, Mourinho probably now looks safer than at any time during his tenure, and he will be a rank outsider for being sacked in the early season betting. Although a number of the tier 1 bookies slashed the odds on Mourinho leaving after their meek Champions league exit most have since reversed course; whilst most of the bookies launched in ’17 and ’18 don’t even have prices on this market yet, with the exception of Betstars (from Pokerstars).
After all, an improvement of four places on the previous year’s finish, with more goals scored and fewer conceded, would seem to suggest that things at Old Trafford are back moving in the right direction after several seasons of stasis.
Although it is still early in the transfer window (which closes earlier this year on 9 August, before the Premier League season begins), things are beginning to hot up a little on this front. The biggest name thus far to be linked to a move to Old Trafford is Chelsea’s Brazilian attacking midfielder Willian, rumored to be subject to a £60 million bid by United. Mourinho is also said to be chasing German international defender Jerome Boateng from Bayern Munich, for a fee thought to be in the region of £44 million. These come on the back of the signing of 19-year-old Portuguese right-back Diogo Dalot, completed in June from Porto for £19 million, and Fred from Shakhtar Donetsk for £52 million.
There are also positive noises coming out of Old Trafford that goalkeeper David de Gea is set to remain at the club, despite persistent rumours for some time that he was set for a move back to Spain and Real Madrid.
So where does all of this leave Manchester United in 2018/19? The summer signings have already seen United’s odds of winning the Premier League shorten quite dramatically, and they are now in to 7-1 with many online bookies (third favourites behind City and Liverpool). Even if they don’t win the title, bookies clearly expect the club to finish in the top 4, with an odds-on price of 1-3 (however, if you suspect that this season could be a repeat of 2016/17, you can currently get 11-4 on United missing out on a top 4 spot). In terms of European success, however, for most bookies United are not seriously in the reckoning and you can currently get 16-1 on Champions’ League success (a long way behind City at 11-2).
However, the more adventurous amongst you might fancy a punt on 2018/19 bringing to Old Trafford an historic quadruple — Premier League, Champions’ League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup — at a very enticing 750-1!