It was far from inevitable that Jose Mourinho would try and sign any Chelsea players when he became Manchester United manager.
The Special One’s relationship with many of his star men had become fractured by the time he left Stamford Bridge in December 2015, and Eden Hazard in particular clearly wasn’t playing for him anymore.
Yet, probably the only Chelsea player to shine during a Blues’ miserable campaign for the Blues was Willian.
The midfielder was consistently impressive while all around him, his team-mates were coming up with poor performance after poor performance.
That evidently left its mark on his former boss, as the Brazilian admits Mourinho tried to sign him for United in the summer.
“Concrete I do not know, right? But there was interest, yes,” he told Globo Esporte.
“It was Manchester United, because Mourinho is there too.”
Instead, the Red Devils ended up signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has been a huge success after some initial struggles at Old Trafford.
Juan Mata made the switch from Chelsea to United in 2014, but few would be confident enough to make the journey north to their rivals.
And looking at the table now, Willian must be glad he stayed put.
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