Age: 18
Favoured Position: Centre back
Can also play: Defensive midfield
Cost of Transfer: Reportedly £16.5 million
Total Club Career Appearances: 40
Total Club Career Goals: 0 Background:
Our first transfer of the summer has been completed, and it is for the nineteen year old centre back Phil Jones from Blackburn Rovers. He has been tipped to become a future England captain, and is currently playing alongside our own Chris Smalling in the Euro 2011 Under 21 tournament. Ferguson did not plan to move for him until next year but interest from Liverpool appears to have forced his hand. Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal also made a move for the youngster, but after meeting with all four clubs he only wanted to move to United, despite others offering him higher wages.
The completion of the transfer was delayed for a few days ,with some newspapers saying it had fallen through due to the belief of Venky’s, Blackburn’s owners, that the release clause only allowed Jones to have discussions with other clubs. They attempted to spark a bidding war and on Saturday Liverpool desperately bid £22 million, which is considerably higher than the release clause in the player’s contract. However, Jones made it clear to Blackburn that Man Utd was the only place he wanted to go and the transfer was finally announced today. Jones has already endeared himself to the fans by rejecting Liverpool, and as he has previously said he feels his style of play is best suited to English football it is hoped he will spend the rest of his career at the club.
He made his Premier League debut on the 21st of March 2010 against Chelsea. Immediately it was clear to observers that he was a huge talent. Not intimidated by facing one of the World’s best in Didier Drogba, he put in two crunching tackles on Chelsea players that are still talked about by Blackburn fans who were at the game. Those tackles lifted the crowd and helped his side to a 1-1 result, with the performance of Jones praised by many. He was used in the centre of defence for his remaining nine appearances in the League that season, but at the beginning of 2010-11 Sam Allardyce played him as a holding midfielder, where he also excelled. He likes to make interceptions and anticipate moves, and though he by no means shirks a challenge he does not dive in recklessly. He has a great disciplinary record of only four yellow cards throughout his career to date. Though he is sometimes over eager and is occasionally caught up field out of position, he is learning fast and has all the raw attributes required to become a world class centre back.
Evaluation:
For £16.5 million, he is not cheap by any means, but with such huge potential he could form the basis of our centre back partnership with Smalling for many years to come. The duo already gave a solid performance when partnered together against Spain under 21’s yesterday, and Smalling recently spoke of his delight at Jones’s move to Manchester United. He will be the eighth Jones to play for us in our long history, but the number of games he plays next season might not be as high as the number he would have played had he stayed at Blackburn. The things he will learn from Ferdinand and Vidic, two of the best, will be priceless though and will certainly boost his development even further.
For the coming year, mainly due to his versatility and how many centre backs we have at the club, he will most likely be used in defensive midfield for the majority of the season, rotating with Carrick. As discussed in my ‘Transfer Targets’ article, this is a weak area for us so a player who can fill that role is a welcome addition to the ranks. However, should there be injuries to our first choice centre backs it is expected he will step in there with Smalling, and it is also expected he will be used in that position for Carling Cup matches. Long term it seems he favoures centre back, that is where his position is likely to be.
So, with Ferguson’s acquisition of De Gea set to be finalised soon and O’Shea and Brown seemingly on their way out, our defence shapes up as follows next year:
GK: De Gea. BACK UP: Lindegaard
RB: Rafael. BACK UP: Fabio
CB: Ferdinand. BACK UP: Smalling
CB: Vidic. BACK UP: Jones
LB: Evra. BACK UP: Evans
And in the future, we could have a first choice back line of De Gea, Rafael, Jones, Smalling and Fabio, which even at this early stage sounds brilliant. It is clear the boss has everything planned and this signing is the only reinforcement needed for the back four for the foreseeable future. He is definitely a very good signing and potentially a future captain.
Phil Jones, welcome to Manchester United.
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