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Eric Bailly has opened up about his time at Manchester United, reflecting on the highs of winning trophies and playing with legendary players and the lows of dealing with devastating injuries.
Speaking to The Athletic, the Ivorian claimed he couldn’t believe he was speaking to Jose Mourinho in the summer of 2016.
Bailly explained that whilst on holiday in his home country, the phone rang and he saw “a Portuguese number. But I didn’t know anyone in Portugal and I didn’t speak Portuguese. I started to think. There was an old team-mate. I answered the phone. Who is it?”
“It’s Mourinho. Do you want to play for me at Manchester United?”.
The 29 year old claims he still refused to believe that it was the famous Portuguese coach and demanded he gave him a video call to prove his identity, which he did.
The Ivorian also revealed that he was caught in a transfer tug of war between Pep Guardiola and “the special one”. He claimed that Pep instructed Yaya Toure to convince him of the move and Jose “asked Didier Drogba to have a word with his compatriot”. Bailly chose red and he beamed, “I signed for the biggest club in the world”.
The African Cup of Nations winner went into detail of how his world changed abruptly upon signing for the Red Devils. “It was all new to me when I arrived in Manchester,” Bailly says. “The constant interest from the media, the paparazzi. There were cameras everywhere when I signed my contract at Old Trafford”.
However, the now Villareal defender believes that his first year was the strongest for the club.
“People didn’t know me and doubted me, but my first year in Manchester was my best. I played many games, we won three trophies. I won the club’s best player in my first month. I was playing with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Wayne Rooney.”
Bailly also reflected on his difficulty with English but also the fortune he had that much of the dressing room spoke Spanish and French and this allowed him to settle quickly at the club. “My English was a disaster. But I had luck because I was in a dressing room where more Spanish was spoken than English. It was a dressing room with a really good atmosphere. I loved it there. The fans were respectful”.
The former Espanyol player believes his problems began in the 2017-2018 season, ironically after starting the season very well, starting eight of the club’s first 11 league games in that campaign. “I had some injuries,” he says of an ankle ligament problem, “but I always felt I had the confidence of Mourinho and that I would be selected when I came back from injuries”.
Reflecting on the end of the manager who gave him his dream move he stated, “It was complicated (when Mourinho left) as it can be in football when a manager changes, but it’s also normal. I had a good relationship with (his replacement) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer”.
Bailly played both games in the famous win over Paris Saint Germain but would go on to miss the Champions League quarter finals of 2019 against Barcelona. Injuries would pile up and rob him of any chance of building up and sort of consistency or spot in the team. In fact, he would only end up starting 67 games in three and a half years, and 37 of said games came in his first year at the Mancunian side.
“You feel helpless because you can’t change anything when you’re injured. You don’t want to feel worthless but that’s exactly what you feel,” he lamented.
The centre back had to watch as new defensive recruitments such as Harry Maguire and Raphael Varane were brought in to replace him and this saw him leave on loan to Marseille and eventually leaving for Besiktas in the summer window of 2023.
Unfortunately things did not work out in Istanbul in spectacular circumstances but the defender has now been given a career lifeline at the club where he made his name, Villarreal.
About to enter his thirties, the Ivorian will hope he can finally put his injury woes behind him and get back to playing football at the highest level he can.
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