When finishing the usual forensic analysis of his squad for summer transfer planning, Jose Mourinho last season decided he wanted to enhance five areas of the Manchester United team, but there were two specific positions he saw as higher priority than the rest.
One was obviously a goalscorer, and that has now been sorted with the signing of Romelu Lukaku - amid some sensation. The other was by many accounts even more important to Mourinho, the task he is most concerned with.
That was the pursuit of a defensive midfielder, a fulcrum, and was about so much more for the Portuguese than just necessarily filling a position in his team. It was about filling one of his real key positions, from where so much of the manager’s idea of football emanates.
Mourinho believes the pinpointing of the right individual for that role was “essential” in all of his best teams, and feels one of the major problems United had last season was that there was not enough balance in central midfield due to the lack of a natural holding player. That had more of an effect than just an improvised midfield. It meant the defence was much more exposed, and ensured attacking players - particularly Paul Pogba - didn’t quite have the same freedom he would have liked, or even the same assurance, so they could more willingly go forward.
Mourinho’s defensive midfielders offer that “balance to the team offensively and defensively”, but also so much more. These are the players he has variously described as his “tactical leader”, his “assistant coach on the pitch” and who he most charges with interpreting and applying the manager’s approach. They are the centre of the most organised part of the team, and are absolutely key to releasing the more expressive players in the team, allowing the whole side a greater fluency.
Even another of Mourinho’s true loyalist lieutenants in Didier Drogba recognised Claude Makelele as “the essential element” in their 2004-06 Chelsea side.
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