Trebor Mahtal enjoyed his best season in football management so far as he led a strong AS Roma side to their first Scudetto in 39 years. A few days later, the Zambian offered his resignation and went in search of club number eight.
Mahtal was now just over one-quarter of the way through his Alphabet Challenge, having added A to the previous success at clubs beginning with E, L, P, S and U. He spotted a couple of interesting opportunities before being offered an interview by PSG, which he had to decline. PSG instead appointed Roberto De Zerbi, who left Manchester United, who in turn immediately offered Mahtal an interview. He was also approached by Inter Milan and, intriguingly, Neuchatel Xamax, which would offer an opportunity to try and tick the troublesome X off the list.
As tempting as that was, Man United came in with an offer of £110,000 per week, which he negotiated up to £120,000. So Mahtal was heading to England for the first time in his career.
Who Are Manchester United?
Manchester United is a professional football club based in Greater Manchester in the northwest of England. The club was founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club by the Carriage and Wagon department of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) depot at Newton Heath in 1878, changing its name to Manchester United in 1902. The club lost its first match 6-0 to Bolton Wanderers’ reserve team and competed in regional leagues before joining the Football League in 1892. Ten years later, it was handed a winding-up order over a debt of £2,670 (equivalent to £370k) but four local businessmen saved the club and the name Manchester United was born.
Man United is, at the time of writing and in the game, the most successful English club, having won 22 league titles, five Champions Leagues, 14 FA Cups and nine Carabao Cups – winning the Premier League in 2038 and 2039 and the Champions League in 2028 and 2037 during this save. But last season, they dropped to 4th in the league, so Mahtal would have a little rebuilding task.
The club still plays at the 74,031-capacity Old Trafford and has solid infrastructure of 20 youth facilities, 19 training facilities and youth recruitment and 18 junior coaching. It also sees Mahtal join his first 5-star reputation club. The finances are good, with £37m in the bank, a £58m transfer budget and £6.4m of the £7.8m wage budget being spent, there was no debt, and a tycoon owner in Philipp Bergner, who bought the Glazers out in 2029. Mahtal brought in more money as he moved on 22 players for a profit of £295m, including Kai Rooney going to Saudi for £43m and 34-year-old Endrick to Porto for £30m, which slashed more than £3m off the wage bill.
Mahtal inherits a world-class squad led by a familiar face in former Frankfurt winger Iván Alonso, who signed for £126m in 2038. Arguably their best player is Ivorian midfielder Noel Fofana, along with Dutch attacker Donnegy Pinas, centre backs Anton Tkachenko, who’s arguably the best defender in the world, and Jordens Brandts and the world’s best goalkeeper Sebastián Sandoval. There’s also a real-life name in legendary striker Chido Obi-Martin (now 32) and a well-known player in former Atalanta midfielder/centre back Alessandro Zecchinato, who joined for £46m last summer.
Mahtal brought in a long-term target, right winger Arvid Gouweleeuw, for up to £129m from AZ, along with left winger Sergio Roa for £11.5m from River Plate and midfielder Mohamed Sherif from Zamalek for £7.5m. He also promoted a few younger players, including midfielder Gavin Osborn, Egyptian attacker Ahmed Shaaban, Japanese centre back Yasuo Konno, 6ft 6in Portuguese defender André Mendes, goalkeeper Kieran Jeffreys and striker Morgan Lewis. Then on deadline day, he bolstered his attacking options by loaning in his former Roma man Luca Conforti and Newcastle wonderkid Victor Bashir.
Having assessed the players available, Mahtal initially considered playing a 4-2-4 but dropped it into more of a 4-5-1 with Pinas playing in his preferred number 10 role. There are concerns at full back, especially the lack of a right back, which means left back Edon Forster will fill in. And Mahtal felt they were a little light on squad depth, which could become a problem if they picked up injuries.
Getting Started In England
The bookies have Man United as third favourites to win the Premier League with 5/1 title odds. Champions Chelsea are 12/5 favourites along with Arsenal (13/5), Newcastle and Liverpool (10/1), Man City (18/1) and Tottenham (20/1).
Mahtal’s time in England began with a penalties defeat after a 0-0 draw with Arsenal in the Charity Shield. His first taste of the Premier League took him to Brighton and they dominated before eventually leading through Pinas’ smart finish. Great play by Gouweleeuw teed up Chido to double the lead after an hour and they cruised to a 2-0 win. His first game at Old Trafford saw the Man United fans leave impressed as Fofana’s double led a 4-1 domination of Southampton.
A big early test took them to Arsenal, who totally dominated and won 4-2 with Sandoval playing a 7.5. Another tough game followed a week later at home to Liverpool but they started better as midfielder Ariel Rossetti rifled in from 25 yards then won a penalty that young striker Morgan Lewis saw saved (but why he was taking it was anyone’s guess). Liverpool inevitably went and equalised with their first shot but Lewis made up for his miss by heading his first senior goal from Alonso’s cross just after the break. Brandts doubled the lead by heading in a corner and they eased to a 3-1 victory.
Bashir scored a debut brace as United strolled to a 4-0 win at Ipswich. And a promising start continued with easy home wins over Fulham and Wolves and a Gouweleeuw assist hat trick inspiring a 7-0 hammering of Birmingham, which earned Mahtal September and October manager of the month awards. The fine run eventually ended with a 2-1 loss at West Ham after a mass of players returned exhausted or injured after international duty. But they responded in style, winning 3-0 at home to Newcastle and Everton either side of Fofana’s late goal edged a 2-1 at Spurs.
A big Christmas fixture period began with United entertaining English and European champions Chelsea. They bossed the first half by six shots to none, only to concede Chelsea’s first shot straight after the break. But the game swung on two corners as Fofana crossed to the near post for Tkachenko to head home and earn a deserved victory. Four days later, another huge game was decided by Alonso, who scored after 2 minutes and 84 minutes to earn a 2-1 win at city rivals Man City, who had their centre back sent off for an awful tackle after half an hour. That stunning form sent United into the new year with a massive 15-point lead over Chelsea, who had a game in hand.
Mahtal’s First Taste of the Champions League
Mahtal got his first taste of top-tier continental football as United entered the Champions League. They had a tough game up first as Real Madrid came to town but got a flyer as Bashir robbed a defender to score after 6 minutes. They edged the first half and doubled the lead as a wonderful Fofana pass picked out Pinas to chip the keeper. Bashir doubled his tally with a superb turn and finish and went close to a hat-trick as his vicious strike bounced back off the post, but they settled for an impressive 3-0 victory.
Alonso’s first goal of the season nicked a 2-1 at home to Lyon and Chido’s early strike led a 3-0 win at Antwerp. A rotated team lost at Rangers before Alonso inspired a surprise 3-1 win at Bayern and Fofana and Pinas earned a 2-1 win at Leverkusen. Rotated teams won 3-1 at home to Slovan Bratislava and drew 3-3 with Celtic to qualify top of the pile.
United eased past Lyon 5-2 on aggregate and Leverkusen 6-4 to reach the semis, where they faced Marseille while Liverpool took on Napoli. Fofana scored the only goal in France, then Bashir’s brace and three goals in the final eight minutes secured a 6-1 home hammering to send them through. Liverpool won 1-0 in Italy to go through 4-3 on aggregate to set up a tasty Champions League Final.
World Class Team Pushes For Glory
As an indication of the quality of players Mahtal was working with, Fofana came 4th on the Goal50 best players in the world list with Sandoval 10th, Tkachenko 14th, Brandts 15th, Alonso 19th and Chido 37th. But that reached new levels as Fofana won FIFA Best Men’s Player 2040 after 20 goals, 19 assists and a 7.36 average rating in 47 games this year, Sandoval won World’s Best Goalkeeper, and Sandoval and Tkachenko made the World XI of the Year (in a team that didn’t include the world’s best player).
Fofana came into 2041 as the top scorer in the Premier League, with 12 goals and 12 assists in 20 games from midfield. For that reason, Mahtal sanctioned the sale of 33-year-old Chido, who had no intention of signing a new contract, to Napoli for £12.5m.
Mahtal sacrificed an FA Cup third-round tie at Man City (having previously lost at Liverpool in his only Carabao Cup match) to rest players for the league. That paid off in their first league game of the new year as the day after a tired Chelsea lost 3-0 at Leicester, a Rossetti double downed Brighton 2-0 to open up an 18-point lead. They drew consecutive games at Liverpool and Fulham before Bashir scored the only goal at Wolves and Fofana’s brace led a 3-0 win at home to Villa.
United’s unbeaten run extended to 18 matches before Fofana’s defence-splitting pass sent Zecchinato in for the only goal late on at home to Arsenal. The streak ended with a 2-0 defeat at Newcastle in early April, but Chelsea lost their game in hand at Spurs and then lost 3-1 at Liverpool… which handed the title to United with five games remaining. Mahtal led Manchester United to Premier League glory for the third time in four years!
United went on to win the Premier League by a massive 23 points, finishing with 97 points after 31 wins, 4 draws and 3 defeats. Fofana finished as the second-top scorer with 17 goals and was also the second-top assisted with 15, only behind Alonso with 18. Unsurprisingly, he had the league’s average rating with 7.55 in 33 games, ahead of Tkachenko (7.38 from centre back) and Alonso (7.36), and Sandoval led the clean sheets chart with 20. As a result, Fofana claimed both the PFA Player and Football Writers’ awards and eight United players made the team of the year.
Man United v Liverpool in the Champions League Final
75,000 fans left the northwest of England behind to descend on northern Italy as rivals Manchester United and Liverpool went head-to-head for the first time in Europe’s biggest match. Liverpool were seeking their seventh European title while United were seeking to join them on six. Mahtal had no injury concerns for his first continental final so lined up:
Sandoval; Forster, Tkachenko, Brandts, Cavell; Rossetti, Fofana; Gouweleeuw, Alonso, Pinas; Bashir
Subs: Conforti, Jeffreys, Kopnno, Zecchinato, Roa, Osborn, Ernst, Shaaban, Lewis, Mendes, Sebek, Santos
The first half was pretty cagey with United having plenty of shots but nothing overly threatening. That was until the 43rd minute, when Fofana whipped a freekick to the back post for left back Trevor Cavell to nod home. Ten minutes after the break, another set piece paid off as Bashir whipped a cross into the box and Fofana, completely unmarked at the backpost, stabbed in a second. It was all over after an hour as Cavell found Pinas free in the box to easily make it 3-0. Liverpool barely had an attack and United cruised to the sixth Champions League success.
Another Letter Ticked Off The List
Upon walking into Old Trafford, Mahtal expected to be in with a shot of the title – especially when he saw the quality of the club’s key players. The form of Fofana, in particular, meant success was virtually guaranteed as the midfielder scored an incredible 24 goals with 21 assists and a 7.49 average rating in 48 games. He was named the best player in the world as well as the best player in both the Premier League and the Champions League! Other top performers were Alonso with a club-high 24 assists and 10 goals, Bashir with 17 goals and 5 assists, Pinas with 17 goals and 8 assists, Gouweleeeuw with 12 goals and 14 assists and Tkachenko with 10 goals.
But after one year in Manchester, it was time for Mahtal to depart this team of superstars and seek his next challenge. He leaves the club after 56 games, of which he won 42, drew 7 and lost 7, scoring 135 and conceding 41.
Where would Mahtal head to after ticking M off his challenge? Join us on Friday to find out!
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