After a disappointing end to their 2018/19 Premier League campaign, in which they eventually finished in 6th place, the attentions of everyone at Manchester United will inevitably be on the summer transfer window, as they plan to improve their league finish next season.
But despite United confirming Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as their permanent manager back in March, in which he signed a contract until 2022, another footballing legend has recently expressed his interest in taking his job.
One Diego Maradona.
Yes, that's right, one of the best ever players to grace the pitch has recently spoken out about United's lack of recent trophy wins, claiming they should hire him, despite him currently managing Dorados in the Mexico second division.
So, for a bit of fun, we decided to find out how he would get on as manager of Manchester United. We used the highly respected Football Manager 2019 to find out how he'd get on.
Diego Maradona - Manchester United manager
In order to run this simulation, we opened up the Football Manager editor and made Diego Maradona the Manchester United manager, before starting a new game.
We also made sure all of the real-life transfers, manager changes, promotions and relegations were accurate, to make the simulation as realistic as possible, using a third party editor file.
Then we ran the simulation until the end of the season and this is what happened.
Manchester United's 2019/20 transfers
As expected, Maradona was given quite a sizeable budget by United, these are the transfers he approved.
Transfers in: £160.75 million rising to £186.5 million
Mauro Icardi (Inter Milan) - £97 million (January)
Federico Chiesa (Fiorentina) - £47 million rising to £69 million
Mario Gaspar (Villarreal) - £16.75 million rising to £20.5 million (January)
Adrien Rabiot (PSG) - Free Transfer
Maradona signed PSG midfielder Rabiot and Fiorentina winger Chiesa in the summer window, but spent £133.75 million in the January window, signing fellow Argentine Icardi from Inter and right-back Gaspar from Villarreal.
Manchester United 2019/20 individual performances
Top goalscorers:
Top assisters:
Top rated:
Despite being in the last year of his contract, Juan Mata had an exceptional season for United, having the highest overall average rating and providing the most assists in the squad.
But the top goalscorer was actually Alexis Sanchez, as Maradona got the best out of the Chilean.
Manchester United's 2019/20 team performance
Goals conceded:
Goals scored:
Possession:
In Maradona's debut season, United conceded the least goals of anyone in the division, conceding just 33 goals in 38 games.
United scored 70 goals under Maradona, five more than they scored last season, but still 12 fewer than top scorers Liverpool.
Interestingly, Maradona didn't care much for possession, preferring a more direct style of play. United averaged 51% possession over the course of the season, just above the likes of Leicester and Everton.
This is the United XI that performed best throughout the season....
Manchester United's 2019/20 cup competition record
FA Cup:
Carabao Cup:
Europa League:
Maradona came so close to reaching the Europa League final, but they would eventually lose to Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg in the semi-finals.
United reached the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup, losing to Tottenham, and reached the 6th round of the FA Cup, getting knocked out by Liverpool.
Ultimately, United came up short in the cup competitions under Maradona.
Now onto their eague resuts......
Manchester United's 2019/20 Premier League season
Maradona had an incredible start as Manchester United manager in the Premier League, going unbeaten in his first league 12 games, winning ten of them.
His very first loss as a Premier League manager would come as late as December, losing 0-3 at home to local rivals Man City.
After signing Icardi and Gaspar in January, the Argentine's United side went from strength to strength, winning 11 of his 18 games from January onwards, drawing four and losing just three.
Going in to the final game of the Premier League season, Manchester United were top of the league by two points over Liverpool and level on goal difference.
But, incredibly, Maradona's side could only manage a 1-1 draw away at Leicester on the final day, whilst Liverpool beat West Ham 2-1 at home.
This meant Liverpool won the Premier League title on goal difference, by ONE GOAL, with United cruelly missing out.
Ultmately, Maradona's first season as Manchester United manager would finish trophyless, but it would still be classed as positive after such a close title race.
His overall managerial record for the season was 60 games played, with 44 wins, eight draws and eight losses, meaning a win percentage of 73%.
According to Football Manager 2019, Maradona would not achieve what he is claiming, as he failed to win a trophy for the club in 2019/20.
However, this simulation does suggest that if Maradona was in charge of United, it possibly wouldn't be as bad as people might think!
