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Manchester United have had a horrendous start to this season's Premier League campaign, playing 14 games, winning 6, drawing 4 and losing 4. Having gathered 22 points in their first 14 matches, the Portuguese manager has had a worse start to the season than that of David Moyes' first season at Manchester United, and a goal difference of -1 adds to the frustration of the latter.
Jose Mourinho predicted a 'difficult season' for the Red Devils before it began, and pretty much every United fan saw this coming due to their calamitous transfer window in the summer; signing only 3 players - a 25-year-old Brazilian midfielder Fred from Shakhtar Donetsk, a 19-year-old Portuguese full-back Diogo Dalot from Porto and a 35-year-old English goalkeeper Lee Grant from Stoke City.
United have already been knocked out of the Carabao Cup this season, they are already out of the Premier League title race, and the Champions League glory stills seems to be very unlikely. The 'Special One' might be on the verge of getting sacked at the end of the season if he fails to finish top 4 and bring a trophy to Old Trafford. The FA Cup is pretty much the only piece of silverware Manchester United can fight for this season, but winning it seems to be highly unlikely as well, considering how good United's rivals have been performing this season.
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"Who should?" "Who could?" "Who will?" There's absolutely no doubt how massive debate among the United fans would be about their club's 'next manager'. It could be Zinedane Zidane, Antonio Conte or Mauricio Pochettino, but you never know what's going to happen.
Here, we talk about the 5 reasons why Laurent Blanc could be the perfect replacement for Jose Mourinho.
#1 Good history with his previous clubs
Laurent Blanc began his managerial career in the 2007-08 season, where he managed the Ligue 1 side Bordeaux for 3 seasons. In his first season at Bordeaux, he finished as the runners up behind Olympique Lyonnais, and he also won the Manager of the Season award. The French manager went on to win the league in his second season, which was being dominated by Olympique Lyonnais for the previous 7 years.
He left the club after his third season and replaced Raymond Domenech as the manager of France National Football Team, following their poor display in the 2010 World Cup, where they got knocked out of the group stages.
Blanc guided France to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Euro 2012, where they got knocked out by Spain, who also went on to retain the Euros. He left the France National football team after the UEFA Euro 2012 and replaced Carlo Ancelotti as the manager of Paris Saint Germain in 2013.
His tenure at Les Parisiens turned out to be very successful as he won 3 Ligue 1 titles, 2 Coupe de France titles, 3 Coupe de la Ligue titles and 3 Trophee des Champions titles. The French manager left the club in 2016, winning 11 trophies in his three seasons at the French capital.
Laurent Blanc has been unemployed since then, but it is surely safe to say the man has a good history with his previous teams, winning silverware almost everywhere.
#2 Has played for Manchester United in the past
Laurent Blanc has also played for Manchester United during his club career. The former World Cup winner was signed by Sir Alex Ferguson in the summer of 2001 to replace Jaap Stam. Blanc spent two seasons with the Red Devils, before retiring from playing at the end of 2002-03 season, the season he won the Premier League as well.
Blanc has played under some of the best managers in the history of the game, and Sir Alex Ferguson is definitely one of them. That clearly means he knows about Manchester United very well, and also about the philosophy and the traditions of the club.
Having worked under one of the most inspiring managers in Sir Alex Ferguson, he would surely know how to motivate the players and to pour some confidence into his side to perform well and remain consistent throughout the season.
It would, without a doubt, be very exciting to see how he implements these attributes at Manchester United, which the club has been missing for the last 5 years.
#3 Promotes youth players
Jose Mourinho has been accused of not giving playtime to the academy players very often throughout his career. The talent Manchester United academy players actually have is absolutely unreal. Mason Greenwood, a 17-year-old academy star of Manchester United has scored 17 goals in 16 games in all competitions this season. Angel Gomes and Tahith Chong have been the standout players in the academy too.
Laurent Blanc has always been known for promoting youth academy players. Current PSG stars Presnel Kimpembe and Adrien Rabiot are the prime examples of that. Blanc also promoted the French winger Kingsley Coman at the French capital, who's currently playing for the German giants Bayern Munich.
One could only imagine what he would do to talented academy stars like Greenwood, Gomes, Chong and so on. It could be extremely exciting to see how he promotes youth players and uses them in his attacking system.
#4 Good at team management
One problem Manchester United has been suffering from this season is Mourinho's poor team management, which is a very important quality of a great football manager. The Portuguese manager is rumoured to have a poor relationship with some of his players like Paul Pogba and Eric Bailly. Former United players Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand have also criticised Mourinho for his poor management.
Laurent Blanc, on the other hand, is known for his good team management skills.
“We had a positive time with [successor] Laurent Blanc, we won a lot of things. He made sure the players were themselves and we could express ourselves.", Ibrahimovic shared his thoughts on the French manager.
Blanc has been successful in managing big names and egos such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Angel Di Maria, Edinson Cavani, Thiago Silva, Marco Verratti and so on.
Manchester United stars like Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial might have a good time in the dressing room under Laurent Blanc, who would also help in maintaining a positive relationship with other players as well.
#5 Plays attacking football
From watching boring, sideways and backward possession football under Louis van Gaal to watching lethargic and dire football under Jose Mourinho, Manchester United fans must have had enough of the decline in football quality in recent years. Appointing Laurent Blanc could actually change Manchester United's style of football as he is known for playing offensive style possession-based football.
Paris Saint Germain under Laurent Blanc has played some of the best attacking football in France, if not in Europe, and the Frenchman's record speaks for itself. PSG scored 84 goals in the 2013-14 Ligue 1 campaign, scored 83 goals in the 2014-15 Ligue 1 campaign and scored 102 goals in the 2015-16 Ligue 1 campaign.
The players like Anthony Martial, Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford are arguably some of the most talented attacking players in the world. They all might be going through a bad phase at the moment, but under the right manager, under the right attacking system and under the right guidelines, there is no doubt that these players would be at their sparkling best, and Laurent Blanc could genuinely get the best out of the lot.
