 THE DEPARTEES

Following a very disappointing season which started with high hopes but which started going downhill following the first international break and from which we never recovered, it is now the close season and with that comes the official retained list of players which has just been communicated by Manchester United in the same week which the editor suggested this edition’s article title for me. With the retained list inevitably comes the list of departees and while this list contained a total of ten players from all the age groups, I will focus on the main five senior players whose contracts will expire at the end of June but which will not be renewed. These are Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Edinson Cavani and Juan Mata.

Nemanja Matic was the first of the five to publicly announce that he will be leaving the club while the season was still ongoing and as a result was given a good reception by the fans when he made his final appearances. Brought to the club by Jose Mourinho, he was a steady if unspectacular presence in a midfield which has often been cited as lacking a true defensive midfielder. My personal opinion of Matic was generally a positive one. I liked his experience and his vision although he never hit any particular heights at the club. My lasting memory of Matic will probably be his screamer at Selhurst Park a couple of seasons back which had crowned an impressive comeback win on the night. Unsurprisingly, his next destination is Roma to link up once again with Mourinho. The departure of Paul Pogba was widely anticipated as unfortunately his second spell at Manchester United did not live up to the high expectations it had generated when in 2016 Mourinho brought him back home from Juventus. I think we can all agree that what should have been a period in which Pogba should have been at his peak unfolded into a largely disappointing spell littered with inconsistent form, untimely injuries, a public fallout with Mourinho and periodic ill-timed comments from his agent, the late Mino

Raiola. What was hoped would be a trophy laden six year spell yielded only Europa

League and League Cup triumphs, both in his first season, followed by the longest trophy drought the club has experienced since the seventies/eighties. In an ironic twist, Pogba will return to Juventus on a free transfer for a second time.

Much like Pogba, the departure of Jesse Lingard was very much on the cards. For some strange reason, the club refused to sell Lingard last summer when many had been expecting him to link up with West Ham after a brilliant six months on loan there the previous season. It was therefore anticipated that he would play a prominent part during the season but this definitely was not the case as Lingard remained largely on the periphery of things and his appearances were few and far between, limited mostly to cameos off the bench both under Solskjaer as well as under Rangnick. This led to thinly veiled posts on social media both by himself as well as his brother which were all hinting

by Silvio Scicluna

at the unhappiness of the player and his longing to leave. As things stand his next destination is still unclear. Several clubs have been mentioned such as West Ham obviously, and also cash rich Newcastle in England but also the likes of Roma and Juventus on the continent. I personally liked Lingard and he gradually became one of my favourite players as his performances for United and England grew. And he always had a penchant for scoring on the big occasions at Wembley as his FA Cup Final winner in 2016 and his goals in the Community Shield and League Cup Finals in 2017 amply testify.

When Edinson Cavani signed his one year extension in the summer of 2021, following his brilliant first year in the season when football

was played mostly behind closed doors due to the pandemic, hope were high for season 2021/22. Some say that he was persuaded to stay by Solskjaer with the prospect of performing in front of a full Old Trafford instead of empty stadiums. Stay he did, but his performances last season mirrored that of the club in that he was erratic, almost always injured and many pundits and also fans on social media accused him of choosing which games to play and availing himself of plenty of time off to visit his family back in South America. There is plenty of talk that his next destination might be Boca Juniors in Argentina although going to Spain is also a possibility that cannot be ruled out.

And finally on to Juan Mata, possibly the departure which many United fans least wanted. Often referred to as the nicest man in football, Mata was a model professional besides being a very technically gifted player. When he was brought over by David Moyes in January 2014, he took some time to settle and recapture the form he had shown at Chelsea but from the next season under Louis Van Gaal he started to show the United faithful what he was all about. Not blessed with great pace or strong physique, he more than made up for those by having superb technical ball skills and brilliant vision to pick a pass. And he continued to be a serial winner by winning the FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League in his seven and a half year stay at United. Off the field, he also showed his human qualities with his Common Goal philanthropic initiative besides being a perfect gentleman in his off‑the‑field activities. He rounded off his stay at United with a brilliant video message thanking all United fans, which typified his impressive standing in the footballing world. His next destination is still a mystery to many. Some are saying he might go back to Spain, others say he could be tempted by soccer in the United States. Wherever he goes he will excel because he definitely has at least another two or three years of top level football left in him.

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