Football Season Guide

Another busy summer in the transfer window will see Manchester United heading into the new campaign with renewed belief that they will be able to challenge for the Premier League title this season. United finished outside the top four of the Premier League for a third time in the last four seasons but Jose Mourinho's first season in charge of the club proved to be the most successful following Sir Alex Ferguson's departure as he led his side to the League Cup and a Europa League triumph. Success in Europe meant that United have qualified directly to the group stages of the Champions League, sparing them the trouble and uncertainty of the qualifying rounds. Mourinho though will not be too happy with how the campaign unfolded last season and will be hoping for a better finish this time around, with fans expecting their club to put up a better fight for both the league title as well as in the Champions League. Unlike the previous campaign, United have struggled to complete their transfer activity before the season kicks off but they have addressed a couple of major issues to the squad. Wayne Rooney has been sold to Everton as part of the deal which brought in Romelu Lukaku, who has been their biggest signing and will be leading the attack in the absence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whose injury meant that the club decided not to exercise the option of extending his contract. Victor Lindelof has also arrived from Benfica to boost what was an injury hit defence from the last campaign while Nemanja Matic reunited with Mourinho and will be providing the physicality needed in the midfield. United have enjoyed a fairly successful pre-season with their only defeats coming against Barcelona and then Real Madrid in the European Super Cup Final. Lukaku has been amongst the goals but Lindelof is yet to settle into the team and Matic has been a late arrival while Mourinho is looking to bring in at least another player to provide an option on the flanks. The new signings will be eased into the campaign with United enjoying a fairly easy start, with just two of their opening seven games coming against teams that finished in the top half last season.