Interesting that people think Mikatarian has been a failure, & true he hasn't reached what was expected of him. I wonder though how he would perform playing for the likes of Poch, Guardiola, Wenger, & Klopp. Very well I expect. He is not suited to Mourinho's negative tactics, & is surprising we ever signed him. I expect many of our players, particularly our offensive ones, would play far better under those managers & their styles of play.
Using money as an excuse
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My bad. Youre not wrong though, Im not a fan of his. Would sell him happily. Who signed him? Moyes or LVG, cant remember. It was a panic Woodward buy wasnt it?
We must Spend/Invest to keep up with the top clubs. The problem is not spending right. There was areas which needed more attention than others in the summer but we did not fill them. All the money was spent on 3 players.
No your point seemed to be that the manager is at fault, not a part of it.
Jose has done pretty well transfer wise so far imo, it's what he inherited that's the problem.
I think hes done ok, I think hes invested in some of the wrong areas. Well not wrong, but for instance we didn't need another CB in the summer more than a winger and a fb
Flawed logic - we have done the majority of our transfer business at a time when fee's have become incredibly inflated. Of that £712m, how much of that has been spent in the last 2/3 seasons when even a 3rd choice full-back costs £28m?
City spend a combined £69m on David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany, backbones of their success post takeover. They have been spending and building for years
I agree that we have been incredibly badly managed in a footballing sense for 4yrs at least now, however it's too simplistic to say 'we have spent £712m therefore we should win the league' without analyzing that spend further because as I showed on a thread I posted a month ago, City AND Chelsea have consistently outspent us year on year for over a decade
I believe a DoF would give the club a direction. I can see how City went out and spent big money on players that'd fit into Pep's ethos long before he signed with them.
Where as we got Moyes'd and then Van Gaal bought some great players and destroyed their mojo's. Jose is getting it right, but team is still a work in progress and seems to be taking an age to get to where he thinks we need to be. We do need a few specialist players to be bought or brought through. I do worry Jose will implode if we're not looking like we're going to be champions next season, he doesn't like to be runner up. Next 2 transfer windows will be very critical. Otherwise I think it'll be a case of let's see who's available and get yet another manager in and pay no attention to how he can work with the players we have. The we'll carry on the chop and change the players and get certain ones to play roles that doesn't really suit them.
We're pretty unimaginative in the market. That Salah deal is so not the United thing to do in the post SAF era. We pay the full value of very obvious signings. And even they usually end up either not fitting or just being a let down.
Well there are issues with what he inherited and also what he has added to.
I don't think anyone is saying we should be winning the league at this stage but we definitely shouldn't be setting up and playing like a small team of non-league paupers against the top 6 teams.
Some people say some people are using money as an excuse. I made this thread after the City game. It's not to say we aren't spending money. It's to say that given that we've spent stupidly, in accordance with one stupid decision after another (Moyes, LVG) the money spent is not a coherent project, but different ones. Hence, Jose is not in a situation to build on what's been done before, but rather faced a task of rectifying what had been done before which is more costly.
Hence I question the future vision of the board. If we are to bring in a DoF great, about 5 years late, but fine. But when people say Jose has spent this and LVG spent this, they are not adjusting for inflation, taking into account the different squad's inherited nor the fact that City have raised the bar quite significantly.
Regular spending is only apt when we have a regular situation. These are extenuating circumstances.
Hence I question the future vision of the board. If we are to bring in a DoF great, about 5 years late, but fine. But when people say Jose has spent this and LVG spent this, they are not adjusting for inflation, taking into account the different squad's inherited nor the fact that City have raised the bar quite significantly.
Regular spending is only apt when we have a regular situation. These are extenuating circumstances.
I don't understand where this attitude has come from. SAF used to do it all the time with a much better squad of players
I remember going to the Barcelona 1-0 at OT and I don't think Rooney left our half in 90mins! We literally packed the penalty area with about 7 players! Never mind park the bus we parked a ferry!
Add to that the arguably disgraceful way SAFs teams kicked Arsenal off the park in the early Noughties
In an ideal world, I would have loved to of seen us try and pass around City's high press. In reality, who in our team on Sunday is good enough to do it?
This is an excellent point and one I keep trying to make, unfortunately people like simple narratives and I'm afraid a fair chunk of our fan base want Jose to fail
We can extend that benefit of the doubt to Lukaku but not Mkhi. Mourinho's tactics arent Mkhi's problem because he still underwhelms when we set up positively.
The squad Jose inherited had little value despite having a fortune spent on it. De Gea, Martial and Rashford were the only players in it who could have possibly attracted a high transfer fee. He has spent pretty well here and it's telling that our poor performances of the season have mostly coincided with a large chunk of that spend sitting out injured or suspended. Comparing squad cost with teams like Madrid is pretty unhelpful, since a lot of their high value players, Isco, Asensio, Casemiro, Kroos etc didn't cost much. Same with Spurs, who have built a very high value squad at relatively low cost. Bargain shopping is a fair strategy, but a higher risk one, and I doubt that approach would go down too well with most people who expect us to be flexing our financial muscle to get us back to the top as soon as possible. We just have to get over the fact that we wasted so much on dross before Mourinho arrived.
full agree people expect far to much now days from young players. people forget how poor ronaldo was for 2/3 seasons. He is our best dribbler in my opinion as the ball sticks to his feet and doesnt just reply on pace.
I think the problem we've got is that City have been spending like this for the last 10 years. They've made a lot of bad buys (Robinho, Balotelli, Jovetic spring to mind) but when you're spending top dollar every year you're going to keep improving the squad.
Their squad has gradually got better, almost through a process of trial and error, year on year and now they've got arguably the best squad in Europe.
United, on the other hand, spent next to nothing in the last years of Fergie and it's all come in a giant splurge ever since - which is really high-risk and chaotic.
If United continue to spend at their current rate for the next four/five years they'll have an amazing squad as well, because every year they'll add more quality.
There's also the net spend angle to consider. Yes United have spent a fortune but, unlike City, they have to recoup it as well. That's why they've offloaded Schneiderlin, Depay and Schweinsteiger this year. City can afford to have hugely expensive players like Mangala sitting there doing practically nothing.
Their squad has gradually got better, almost through a process of trial and error, year on year and now they've got arguably the best squad in Europe.
United, on the other hand, spent next to nothing in the last years of Fergie and it's all come in a giant splurge ever since - which is really high-risk and chaotic.
If United continue to spend at their current rate for the next four/five years they'll have an amazing squad as well, because every year they'll add more quality.
There's also the net spend angle to consider. Yes United have spent a fortune but, unlike City, they have to recoup it as well. That's why they've offloaded Schneiderlin, Depay and Schweinsteiger this year. City can afford to have hugely expensive players like Mangala sitting there doing practically nothing.
Our squad cost roughly double that of Liverpool - let that sink in.
Herr Klopp has spent almost nothing and before that they had Bodgers replacing Suarez with Superbad Mario and Ricky Lambert then Benteke.
Us crying about being marginally outspent by city is just embarrassing.
Think about how we must look to fans of anyone else in the league apart from City and Chelsea.
Get a grip.
Herr Klopp has spent almost nothing and before that they had Bodgers replacing Suarez with Superbad Mario and Ricky Lambert then Benteke.
Us crying about being marginally outspent by city is just embarrassing.
Think about how we must look to fans of anyone else in the league apart from City and Chelsea.
Get a grip.
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I regularly hear people banging on about how Mourinho hasnt been backed in the transfer market. I find it truly baffling.
We have players coming through like O'Connor who can play anywhere across the back. Traore, Gomes, and Puigmal, who have composure on the ball along with Callum Gribbin who has great skill. These youngsters are our future if we can hold on to them and give them game time. Any other manager would be delighted to have these 5 players coming through. Mourinho just have to give these youngsters a chance.
We hoofed the ball because we dont have Marcelo and Carvajal.
And we did not have ball carriers in the team without Pogba. Matic is good on the ball but if Jose is to be believed, was carrying an injury. Herrera is not going to shake of opposition players that go hunting in packs. Our outlets were Jesse, Rashford and Martial. Jesse had defensive duties while the other two were possibly meant to win 2nd balls and create runs for Rom's hold up play. Trouble is, his hold up play is non-existent. Without ball carriers in midfield, we were never going to set up similarly to them.
According to one guy on this forum, if only Mourinho had been backed and been allowed to sign Perisic, we would have won the league. 
Our main issue was recruitment under LVG which was a disaster. This makes our spending look horrendous. But there was also a serious lack of investment by the club from 2008 to 2013 which made us have to spend so much money in recent seasons to catch up.
Our main problem is still a lack of balance. I still believe Martial and Rashford are strikers being played out of position. We have no natural wingers. We have too many number 10s. We don't have a proper LB and we need a better option in CM if one of Pogba or Matic are injured.
The main issue we had this summer for Zlatan's injury. Had he not done his knee I think there would have been no rush to buy a striker. Clubs knew we need a CF and that meant prices were ridiculous and a vast majority of our budget had to be spent on one position. Lukaku and Morata were never worth the £75-90m being quoted. We have been massively ripped off yet again. Yes Lukaku will score you 20-30 goals but critically how many are winners, how many in the big games that really matter. These were comments made by many before we signed him and so far it looks to be true.
Our main problem is still a lack of balance. I still believe Martial and Rashford are strikers being played out of position. We have no natural wingers. We have too many number 10s. We don't have a proper LB and we need a better option in CM if one of Pogba or Matic are injured.
The main issue we had this summer for Zlatan's injury. Had he not done his knee I think there would have been no rush to buy a striker. Clubs knew we need a CF and that meant prices were ridiculous and a vast majority of our budget had to be spent on one position. Lukaku and Morata were never worth the £75-90m being quoted. We have been massively ripped off yet again. Yes Lukaku will score you 20-30 goals but critically how many are winners, how many in the big games that really matter. These were comments made by many before we signed him and so far it looks to be true.
If we get to play Barcelona away then I will be happy for a repeat but we did the same against Liverpool and Chelsea and now City at home. City are a great team but there is not the huge gulf that Jose instilled in the team.
We also played Arsenal off the park in those days
This is true but if we had top full backs able to beat the first line, the role of the ball carrier can be divided among many players.
Even if we dont have someone like Modric it would not be an excuse(if we had the FBs), because theres a difference between a ball carrier and a deep playmaker.
I know people prefer Pogba in attacking positions but hes perfectly able to start our playing from the defense and pass it to the advanced full backs.
Even Matic or Mata could do that.
What they cant do is operate as a 10 Modric-style, but they dont need to.
Our recruitment since Ferguson retired has been horrible.
Moyes
Mata - Good player, but we have never given him a signicant run at #10, and at the time wasn't what we needed.
Fellaini - Sorry but anyone who thinks a player like him wins you the league playing in midfield is wrong. Has his uses but isn't good enough at this level.
LvG
Blind - Where exactly is his best position? Midfield? Because he doesn't play there for us.
Darmian - Worst full back we've had in years
Memphis - Good talent, but didn't work out remotely
AdM - World class talent, but we didn't have a plan or any idea how to use him (remember AdM upfront?)
Falcao - Was awful for us, and then for Chelsea before he recovered his form in France
Herrera - Not good enough if we want to consistently compete.
Martial - His best signing. World class potentially. Needs to play back up front.
Rojo - Good centre back. Woeful left back.
Romero - Best #2 keeper in the league.
Schneiderlin - Woeful
Bastian - Woeful
Shaw - Fat and injured his whole time here
Valdes - What was the point?
Moyes
Mata - Good player, but we have never given him a signicant run at #10, and at the time wasn't what we needed.
Fellaini - Sorry but anyone who thinks a player like him wins you the league playing in midfield is wrong. Has his uses but isn't good enough at this level.
LvG
Blind - Where exactly is his best position? Midfield? Because he doesn't play there for us.
Darmian - Worst full back we've had in years
Memphis - Good talent, but didn't work out remotely
AdM - World class talent, but we didn't have a plan or any idea how to use him (remember AdM upfront?)
Falcao - Was awful for us, and then for Chelsea before he recovered his form in France
Herrera - Not good enough if we want to consistently compete.
Martial - His best signing. World class potentially. Needs to play back up front.
Rojo - Good centre back. Woeful left back.
Romero - Best #2 keeper in the league.
Schneiderlin - Woeful
Bastian - Woeful
Shaw - Fat and injured his whole time here
Valdes - What was the point?
Your board is simply pretty clueless in appointing managers. First you go out to sign a clueless kick and rush guy like Moyes, then you sign a possession guy like Van Gaal and then you go in the opposite direction again by signing Mourinho. That’s just not how you lead a football club, that’s just idiotic.
How in the world are you guys supposed to ever succeed on the long run, if any coach you sign has to destroy the work of his predecessor before being able to install his own vision?
Pep is successful at City partly because he could build on at least some sort of foundation. Mourinho and Van Gaal on the other hand are two completely different extremes.
You don’t need to spend more, you need to be smart about your spending. By the way, Mourinho is a tremendous coach (even though he’s far too negative for me). But I don’t know if he’s the right guy to build a foundation for the future. I don’t think he cares much about what happens at a club after he leaves. Which is only fair, as he is expected to have immidiate success. But the players he brings in might not be there for the long run and you might have to rebuild again, after he left. Getting guys like Ibra, Matic or Mkhitaryan are hardly moves for the future.
That’s what Pep is doing so well at right now at City. He’s obviously spending a ton of money there, but guys like Ederson, Mendy, Stones, Danilo, Gündogan, De Bruyne, Jesus and Sane should all be there for quite a while. From now on, City can focus on getting real difference makers, as they don’t really have that big of a weakness anymore. They got themselves in a far better position. There’s no more desperation for them. They are now buying from a position of strength.
In my opinion, you should have tried to get a someone similar to Van Gaal instead of Jose. That would have been cheaper.
How in the world are you guys supposed to ever succeed on the long run, if any coach you sign has to destroy the work of his predecessor before being able to install his own vision?
Pep is successful at City partly because he could build on at least some sort of foundation. Mourinho and Van Gaal on the other hand are two completely different extremes.
You don’t need to spend more, you need to be smart about your spending. By the way, Mourinho is a tremendous coach (even though he’s far too negative for me). But I don’t know if he’s the right guy to build a foundation for the future. I don’t think he cares much about what happens at a club after he leaves. Which is only fair, as he is expected to have immidiate success. But the players he brings in might not be there for the long run and you might have to rebuild again, after he left. Getting guys like Ibra, Matic or Mkhitaryan are hardly moves for the future.
That’s what Pep is doing so well at right now at City. He’s obviously spending a ton of money there, but guys like Ederson, Mendy, Stones, Danilo, Gündogan, De Bruyne, Jesus and Sane should all be there for quite a while. From now on, City can focus on getting real difference makers, as they don’t really have that big of a weakness anymore. They got themselves in a far better position. There’s no more desperation for them. They are now buying from a position of strength.
In my opinion, you should have tried to get a someone similar to Van Gaal instead of Jose. That would have been cheaper.
Yeah I think a worrying thing you mentioned is how a good percentage of Mourinho's signings aren't really long term personnel. One of the reasons I'll forever support the board for not sanctioning Perisic type signings. We could easily be facing another painful rebuild if we appoint another manager
Perisic would have been a disastrous signing. Maybe he would have had great immidiate impact, but you basically would have had to worry about his replacement right away. Same thing with Matic. As soon as you signed him, you have to think about who will take over. You can do that from time to time, but not regularly.
Whoever appoints your managers, he should be out of his job by now.
Havng seen City with virtually the same style of play and same players (With a few important additions) under both Pellers, Pep last year and Pep this year it is clear to me the most important aspect is the manager. He has turned those players (under Pellers) into something different. He has changed those same players mentality into a winning mentality and we're seeing what we have now.
It was the same under AF, he turned everything into a positive, he got the most out of players not by threatening them or exposing them in the press, but by inspiring them and driving them on. SAF was the reason behind Utd's success, even with average players sometimes, and at the moment it is Pep that is carrying City to the next level.
What I am saying is, we moaned and moaned at players like Sterling and Otamendi and the money spent on them, but it wasn't actually them it was that they needed a good manager who could get the best out of them, to achieve their potential 100% of the time. Mikhitarian, Lukaku, lots of others have that potential they have shown how good they can be, Mourinho in his 2nd year should be getting that out of them 100% of the time.
It was the same under AF, he turned everything into a positive, he got the most out of players not by threatening them or exposing them in the press, but by inspiring them and driving them on. SAF was the reason behind Utd's success, even with average players sometimes, and at the moment it is Pep that is carrying City to the next level.
What I am saying is, we moaned and moaned at players like Sterling and Otamendi and the money spent on them, but it wasn't actually them it was that they needed a good manager who could get the best out of them, to achieve their potential 100% of the time. Mikhitarian, Lukaku, lots of others have that potential they have shown how good they can be, Mourinho in his 2nd year should be getting that out of them 100% of the time.
For those taking a dig at Jose and his style of play: His stlye of play won Chelsea a title in 2014/2015 and won you guys a EL and community shield and a league cup last season.
Some question his recruitment when Jose came to chelsea he brought in players that became the backbone of our team for well over a decade and when he came back even tho he got rid of some great talents, he still assembled a squad that was good enough and with few additions your ready to go. If we look at his Madrid and Inter days he's always left a proper squad for the next manager to take over.
Jose came to united and you guys had an awful squad, you had Di Maria Jose would kill right now to have Di Maria in this squad. United aren't playing like a Jose team. Your defending isn't up to Jose standard yet and some people don't understand Jose's football really but its simple. You defend in numbers then break at pace to score. Take a look at Chelseas last title winning run under Jose thats what we did better than anyone elses, the problem with that is that you need intelligent players in attack who can make things happen. Miki was bought to do that but him and Mata can't do that anymore. Martial and Rashford prefers to come inside too early so they don't know how to drive to the byline and then come inside so teams pack the box against you.
Lukaku is low on confidence and will eventually start scoring again, every striker go through a massive drop in form it's just a bitch to watch it
Some question his recruitment when Jose came to chelsea he brought in players that became the backbone of our team for well over a decade and when he came back even tho he got rid of some great talents, he still assembled a squad that was good enough and with few additions your ready to go. If we look at his Madrid and Inter days he's always left a proper squad for the next manager to take over.
Jose came to united and you guys had an awful squad, you had Di Maria Jose would kill right now to have Di Maria in this squad. United aren't playing like a Jose team. Your defending isn't up to Jose standard yet and some people don't understand Jose's football really but its simple. You defend in numbers then break at pace to score. Take a look at Chelseas last title winning run under Jose thats what we did better than anyone elses, the problem with that is that you need intelligent players in attack who can make things happen. Miki was bought to do that but him and Mata can't do that anymore. Martial and Rashford prefers to come inside too early so they don't know how to drive to the byline and then come inside so teams pack the box against you.
Lukaku is low on confidence and will eventually start scoring again, every striker go through a massive drop in form it's just a bitch to watch it
Will be out by a few million. Player names taken from transfermarkt so won't include the players loaned out or those who hardly play for first team like Tuanzebe, Diaz and Foden.
This is the comparison I was looking for. It all depends how we analyse the data.
Lets say in the last 5 seasons (2013) onwards we should analyse. (although most players will be capex for 3 years speaking with the accountants)
You then remove the likes of the following (bought > 5 seasons ago):
Smalling
Valencia
Young
Jones
Carrick
De Gea
You are then taking off 92.9 million, as opposed to City's 68 million :
Kompany,
Aguero,
Toure
And we are looking more like
Man Utd = 507 Million
Man City = 588 million
If we looked at this subjectively for the past 3 seasons, again the gulf in the figure is greater again.
Money does buy trophies.
Arguably in Peps first season 200 Million > was spent and not a Trophy was seen.
Mourinho Spent 185 million ~ and won 2 trophies.
Are we just going to gloss over how blatantly unfair this situation is? In a fair competition, we'd be top; and it's not just about United - in a fair competition, Wenger's famously-careful financial management would pay dividends (and not just for shareholders); meanwhile, City would likely be battling to avoid relegation...
There is no refuting this: what City have been allowed to do is unfair...and it is as much the fault of the game's authorities as the club itself. I'm not claiming that this is corruption; just that it might as well be. I'm damned if I'll criticise United & others - for all our mutual flaws - when, for the sake of money, the League has been knowingly sold out. We've all witnessed how hollow and expedient the claims of 'free market' & 'increased competition' are in our daily lives - even if the results are, visibly, worse products/service or unjustifiable profiteering, we're still told that this greedy free-for-all is the best thing; worse, many buy into this laughably sinister mindset.
So don't ask pointless irrelevances like 'why is Lukaku selected?', ask more salient questions like 'why do I half-expect City to score seven goals virtually every home game?' Here's a clue: it's not merely because they're a talented team, or simply because their opponents might be inept.
There is no refuting this: what City have been allowed to do is unfair...and it is as much the fault of the game's authorities as the club itself. I'm not claiming that this is corruption; just that it might as well be. I'm damned if I'll criticise United & others - for all our mutual flaws - when, for the sake of money, the League has been knowingly sold out. We've all witnessed how hollow and expedient the claims of 'free market' & 'increased competition' are in our daily lives - even if the results are, visibly, worse products/service or unjustifiable profiteering, we're still told that this greedy free-for-all is the best thing; worse, many buy into this laughably sinister mindset.
So don't ask pointless irrelevances like 'why is Lukaku selected?', ask more salient questions like 'why do I half-expect City to score seven goals virtually every home game?' Here's a clue: it's not merely because they're a talented team, or simply because their opponents might be inept.
Not disputing your point with the full backs. Just elaborating on the other frailties in our squad that aren't really apparent until we are facing top quality teams. The first team is quite good for the league, results and performances speak for themselves. But to seriously challenge for the title and in Europe we have some major gap to bridge in terms of quality and balance, in many positions.
Strange post. The fullbacks wouldn't make any difference in us doing that.
Firstly I think we have to either accept the inconsistencies of our attackers or think about a direction to take with regards to our playing style. In todays times you don't get consistent attackers playing In teams that aren't playing attacking football. You see on this forum people bashing Rashford and praising Jesus, swap their teams and I think its a completely different story.
As for our signings, we do need to make better deals and get more value as you mention with the Salah deal. Could easily add Mane and Sane in that statement. However even when buying from the not so big clubs we do pay over the top. I'd imagine Roma would have licked their lips if we were the ones trying to sign him instead of Pool, look at how much Inter wanted for Perisic for a comparison.
Sports is not fair, City being richer is part of the adversity, however they got that money. The PL being better at marketing has nothing to do with sport but the vast majority of british fans don't see it as unfair, they even brag about it. Being a club in London means that you have a bigger pool of talented youth player than when you are in Newcastle, no one goes around and cry about it, same thing with the potential amount of supporters, the possibilities to have a bigger live audience, bigger stadium, etc...
I totally understand your POV but people are being hypocrites, I have seen too many people on this forum look down on clubs that realistically can't compete just because of their geographical location and that's not a better argument than a sugar daddy.
The value strategy + the mess that followed (LVG and Moyes) left us with a squad which lacks talent and filled us with players who aren't fit for purpose.
It's not an excuse - and I don't even think we have a bad squad. A few of the very wrong signings over the years (lukaku and mkhitaryan under Mourinho), but generally its just the wrong approach to big games and Mourinho not really having a set tactic that he wants to build towards. Mourinho has alwways been a manager who in the big game, just sets his teams up to counter act the opponents strengths. So he's reacting to the others taking the front foot. Willalways put him at a disadvantage as you can't build a team like that really, rather he just buys big players and tries to make it work.
If Mourinho from day one set out to build towards a team with a set style to dominate in every game, I don't think we'd have the same team as now tbh. And it is what it is, Mourinho is a top manager but he isnt as good as Guardiola and Peps style and teams he builds to play that style will usually beat Mourinhos. So no matter who we buy, Mourinho won't ever be someone who plays an expansive game against another big team, looks to completely dominate them and goes into games confident with our normal game and makes them adapt to us. It's just not him. Literally wouldn't matter if we bought Messi, he'd still have us counter attacking in those games and hand the initiative to the opponent.
Its not even a case of the squad wasnt/isnt good enough. If the roles were reversed back in 2016, I'm pretty sure that Pep would have us playing some great stuff right now just like he does with City. Hell, keep most of the same signings but trade out Mkhitaryan for Sane who Pep really wanted and Lukaku and Ibra for Jesus who only joined because of Pep and we'd have a great attacking team, playing the same way City is now. Proobably something like this:
De Gea, Valencia, Bailly, Blind, Young, matic, Mata, pogba, sane, Jesus, Martial
Would be great to watch. But it is what it is. Obviously we can still turn into a top team, but it'd be nice going into big games and looking forward to outplaying them for a change. And its all "what could have been" but instead, because of signings like Lukaku, we have to build towards a pragmatic team to stifle attacking teams rather then be an attacking team ourselves in those games.
If Mourinho from day one set out to build towards a team with a set style to dominate in every game, I don't think we'd have the same team as now tbh. And it is what it is, Mourinho is a top manager but he isnt as good as Guardiola and Peps style and teams he builds to play that style will usually beat Mourinhos. So no matter who we buy, Mourinho won't ever be someone who plays an expansive game against another big team, looks to completely dominate them and goes into games confident with our normal game and makes them adapt to us. It's just not him. Literally wouldn't matter if we bought Messi, he'd still have us counter attacking in those games and hand the initiative to the opponent.
Its not even a case of the squad wasnt/isnt good enough. If the roles were reversed back in 2016, I'm pretty sure that Pep would have us playing some great stuff right now just like he does with City. Hell, keep most of the same signings but trade out Mkhitaryan for Sane who Pep really wanted and Lukaku and Ibra for Jesus who only joined because of Pep and we'd have a great attacking team, playing the same way City is now. Proobably something like this:
De Gea, Valencia, Bailly, Blind, Young, matic, Mata, pogba, sane, Jesus, Martial
Would be great to watch. But it is what it is. Obviously we can still turn into a top team, but it'd be nice going into big games and looking forward to outplaying them for a change. And its all "what could have been" but instead, because of signings like Lukaku, we have to build towards a pragmatic team to stifle attacking teams rather then be an attacking team ourselves in those games.