Phil Jones quits Manchester United after the season! Are we still paying him? fans comment on invisible defender

Phil Jones is clearly a Manchester United legend, just not quite in the true sense of being remembered for his performances on the pitch, as much as the fact that few people actually saw him on it! Believe it or not, the English defender was brought to Old Trafford by Sir Alex Ferguson back in 2011. Since then, he has held on to the club that even a tick wouldn’t understand how he did it.

Jones arrived in Manchester in the summer of 2011 as a big English talent, brought up for big football by Blackburn. United cost just under €20m at the time and everyone was curious to see how he would shine under Ferguson.

The legendary Scottish coach waited for nothing and deployed Jones regularly. Thanks to his versatility, he played on the right edge of defence or in midfield, in addition to stopper. However, with the arrival of the new year (2012), he played less and less. Still, he managed to play 29 league games and score one goal, which marked a 1-0 win over Aston Villa.

The 2011/12 season was a tough one for United though, as Manchester City won the league title thanks to a legendary turnaround in the final minutes of the game against QPR. And in the Champions League, the Red Devils failed to advance out of the group – Basel, Benfica, Otelul Galati. They were subsequently knocked out by Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League.

The following season was the last time the fans celebrated the league title, whereupon they had to say goodbye to coach Ferguson. However, Jones started having injury problems right at the start of the season, which dragged him down until now.

First he had a back injury, then a knee injury and to make matters worse, he injured his ankle shortly after returning to full training.

Despite this, he played 17 league games, then 26 the next season, then 22, 10, 18, 23 and the last season in which he could be said to be a squad member was 2018/19, in which he started 18 league games.

After that, the Preston native only started 6 games and his overall record for Manchester United stands at 229 games, 6 goals and 10 assists.

Jones boasts a league title (2013), Europa League (2017), FA Cup (2016) and English League Cup (2017).

National team career

Jones has also come through the England youth ranks, making his debut for the Albion A-team on 7 October 2011 and playing a total of 27 games in the national jersey.

The England defender took part in Euro 2012, where he was on the bench for 4 matches. He was also part of Albion during the 2014 World Cup, where after two defeats he jumped into the match against Costa Rica.

He also played twice at the 2018 World Cup, specifically twice against Belgium – 0:1 in the group stage and 0:2 in the battle for third place.

A wasted talent

Jones had a better career than the vast majority of players, despite being so plagued by injuries. Sir Alex Ferguson surely knew why he spent €20 million on the versatile defender, unfortunately that bet didn’t pay off for the club.

Meanwhile, the now 31-year-old Englishman is rather laughed at by the fans, whether it’s for his facial expressions or the fact that Manchester United are still paying him, which ends this season. There are many such stories, however, so it is left to wish Jones all the best for his future career and thank him for inadvertently making countless faces laugh at his expense.

Source: Manchester United, Transfermarkt