Jones has a lot to prove not only to Jose, but to himself as well I think, as he has spent a heck of a long time out with injuries.
If (and it is still a huge if) he can get himself fit, and more importantly, he stays fit, then José might have a tough selection dilemma to make regarding the central defensive pairing going forward.

At the moment, I would say Bailly and Smalling are the first choice pairing, but Jones could change that, if he can stay fit, long way to go before I personally have confidence in him doing so regularly though.


Fair enough, I didn't mean to cause this much backlash, my error for doing so.

That is of course if we can get Jones to be fit on anything like a regular basis, which is something that we have been trying to do I would think, ever since his injury troubles started.

It would be nice if they were to be over, and for his sake I hope that they are, but I guess only time will tell if they have gone away.

So do I, he is a player that has come on a heck of a lot in recent times, so we will have a had time in deciding our main cebtre-back pairing, as we do have good options to select from.

I'm sorry for piling onto this argument but please just stop.

They didn't get him because of an admin error in the same way they wouldn't have signed him if he'd been knocked down on a zebra crossing and got splattered. Circumstance - not a change of heart. Nothing else but circumstance.

I don't think you can be that dim that you can't understand that argument. You either do but persist in churning out the same (very very very incorrect lines) or its not sunk in in which case just keep quiet.

Bleeding obvious: Stated.

Of course it depends on Jones being fit. Who wouldn't have considered that?

Fair enough, I said above that I was sorry for mentioning that particular situation, and I will think twice, (or three or four or more times), before I go down the road of mentioning it once again.

Anyway, that has taken us slightly off the topic of Pogba, and the potential arrival of his here, £104 million is a heck of a first offer, if we are to belive that is our opening gambit, surely if we are doing that, we must have a slight bit of knowledge that he would be interested in coming back?

Do clubs tend to make offers for players that are not interested in coming? Surely they do their homework first of all?

Hopefully this can be settled one way or the other before the season starts, as it would be a bit unsettling for it to carry on up to the window closing.

Well if we are considering Jones as a first choice player ahead of Bailly, then his fitness is obviously a major part in that.

Smalling over Jones every time.
Constantly injured and a bull in a china shop kind of player.

If Jose can get him to stay fit then I look forward to his next trick of walking on water.

Getting back to team matters, it seems that B-Jackson has picked up a slight injury and will miss the China tour apparently, hopefully he will be back for the start of the seas, could do with him as back up to Shaw, if anything happens to him.

He's improved considerably over the past 12 months, but he still needs to improve more. No where near the class of most of our central defenders since Bruce and Pallister really. He's not even near the top 10 central defenders since I started watching United.

I know. Everyone knows.

It has been reported that Mourinho has told Jones that he'll be first-choice. I'm pretty sure that he may have added the caveat, 'as long as you're fit'.

Perhaps you should write to the club, just to make sure.

Depending on if Blind is sold, it wouldn't shock me to see him loaned out this year, to give him more experience.

José would deserve a medal, or an honour of some sort, if he could manage what others have not been able to achieve!

We were saying the same thing with regards Smalling 12 months ago...

Jones, Smalling and Bailly were always going to be fighting for the two key spots in the centre of defence, as it was only really due to Jones' injuries that Blind played there as often as he did.

So Jose saying this is just commonsense really, as they are our three best actual centre-backs.



True, that could be the case, and Blind could as you say hold the key to any potential move for him.

Make or break season for Jones. Realistically you can't miss as much football as he has at his age without it seriously impacting your development trajectory, which might be stating the obvious but still.

I hope that he makes it, as he is clearly a very determined person, I like his commitment levels on the pitch, and I would love for him to be over his injuries.

And what's that got to do with what you quoted?

Actually, please don't bother replying. Waste of time.

He will anyway.

Jones has been here five years. Bought with lots of potential and hasn't progressed in any way imo.

This surely is the last season to prove himself otherwise how long until you chuck in the towel?

I always rated Smalling over Jones regardless, ok he's not Rio but a very good defender nonetheless.

So I get asked a question, but then told not to answer his question, that kind of makes sense I suppose.

The squad for the tour has been announced :-

http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Fe...6-7C9FAE3EDB15

Rather them than me. I'd never go to China. Hear all horror stories of westerners going missing. They'll be fine as they're an organised, high-profile group but you read all the time about people going over there for charity/conservation work disappearing. It's one of the major sticking points as to why no EU-wide/China trade deal exists, their abhorrent human rights record.

Don't know them directly but my cousin new someone who wanted to go out there for 3 months to do something with animals, he ended up posting things on social media that were flagged up and I think it took him 9 months for the embassy to negotiate his release.

Ed Woodward hasn't travelled to China, fuelling speculation further that Pogba deal could be close.

Probably on that boat still.