Euro transfer news – Mourinho eyes up Man United’s finest
Published:Wherever Jose Mourinho goes, success seems to follow. He took both Porto and Chelsea from contenders to champions, he also found Champions League success at Porto and Inter.
And now, he’s the man expected to wrestle Real Madrid back to the top of La Liga, usurping Barcelona both in the national league, and in Europe.
Mourinho does, of course, have the psychological edge of having knocked Barcelona out of last year’s Champions League with his less fancied Inter side.
Hence, while Barcelona are still the favourites to triumph in Europe next season, with Champions League winning odds of 3/1, Mourinho’s Real Madrid are just behind as second favourites at 4/1, despite failing to make it past the last 16 for six years in a row.
The big weekend news is that Mourinho will be looking to boost Real’s defence by snaffling a couple of big names from the sturdy Man United back four – namely, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra.
The new Real Madrid boss is reportedly convinced that the Vidic deal is in the bag, whilst Evra has been lined up with rumours abound that Ashley Cole will not be heading for the Chelsea exit after all.
According to some reports, Evra has sparked a flurry of suspicion by putting his Cheshire home up for sale.
There’s no doubting Real Madrid’s attacking threat from last season, but with Mourinho clearly looking to tighten things up at the back, Barcelona may yet have reason to tremble.
Barcelona are the favourites to win La Liga, with odds of 4/5, whilst Real are once again trailing just behind at evens.
Interestingly, neither Real nor Barca have won more than two La Liga titles in a row since 1994, and with Barcelona taking their second successive title last season, Real will surely fancy their chances.
And trend spotters/straw clutchers might be thrilled to note that on the last four occasions that Valencia finished 3rd in La Liga – stretching back to the mid-1950s – Real Madrid went on to win the thing the following year.
Will Valencia’s 3rd place finish last season once again act as a lucky charm for Real Madrid? See the full La Liga market.
