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Pretty much as soon as José Mourinho was announced as the new AS Roma manager, links to various players started.

Some were very true and got done, such as Rui Patricio, who is now with the Portuguese manager at the Serie A club, while others appeared for a bit before disappearing.

One of those was an alleged interest in Manchester United’s Nemanja Matic, who doesn’t really appear to have much of a future with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s increasingly younger group of players.

Of course, experience is always needed, but there will likely be little space for the Serbian to get regular minutes at Old Trafford this season, which is why a move elsewhere would have made some sense.

Roma would have been ideal, especially following their inability to sign Granit Xhaka from Arsenal, as Corriere dello Sport report Mourinho ‘would be delighted’ to have Matic under his orders once again.

However, it’s made very clear that the defensive midfielder’s age (33) and the ‘high salary’ make ‘this hypothesis inconsistent with the principles’ set out by the owners of the Serie A side.

It’s not impossible, mind, just very unlikely.