The best player/manager combos that never were

Certain players and managers just feel made for each other; their styles, personalities or attitudes simply fit like a glove, often leading to great success on the pitch. Think Xavi dictating the Barcelona midfield for Pep Guardiola, Ricardo Carvalho marshalling José Mourinho’s defensive line at Chelsea, or Thomas Müller bewitching opponents at Bayern Munich as the legendary Jupp Heynckes watches on with a smile.

We cherish these great combinations as they form some of our core memories in football. But what of the ones we never saw? Players and managers who never linked up, despite feeling destined to do so for one reason or another?

We’ve picked out five perfect pairings that sadly never were…

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No one likes a hard worker more than Atlético Madrid coach Simeone; he’s fashioned more elite teams based on sheer grit than anyone over the last decade, at times prioritising attitude and tenacity above natural skill.

The ideal scenario, of course, is to blend them together, and if you can combine magical talent levels with an underlying, run-through-brick-walls mentality, then Simeone is the perfect manager for you.

Over the years, we’ve seen some of the best examples of this playing style either emerge at Atleti or eventually gravitate to them: Antoine Griezmann, Diego Costa, Koke, Saúl Ñiguez, Rodrigo De Paul … the list is a long one — but somehow Uruguay striker Cavani never joined it.

That’s almost beyond comprehension, as the two are a perfect match: Simeone’s Atleti embody the same Garra Charrúa [a term used to describe Uruguayan football’s never-say-die attitude] mentality Cavani exhibits. At his peak, he scored a lot of goals, too, and few can hold a candle to him when it comes to his off-the-ball runs, movement and pure work rate.

It would have been nigh-on impossible for Simeone to sign Cavani while he was powering his way to the top of Paris Saint-Germain‘s all-time scoring charts (he’s since been surpassed by Kylian Mbappé), but the summer of 2020, when the Uruguayan joined Manchester United on a free transfer, was a true window of opportunity. Atleti splashed out €56 million to sign Álvaro Morata instead.

Allegri’s tactical style has a reputation for being a bit brutal to watch at times, but there’s no doubt over the years it has proved effective — six Serie A titles, four Coppa Italias, and two UEFA Champions League runners-up medals finishes that debate off quickly.

He’s earned that success by flying in the face of modern style trends, prioritising more traditional, direct football over the tiki-taka passing so many fans crave. At the very least, though, he’s put his own twist on classic: He loves to use a tall and powerful striker up top, but doesn’t necessarily play them through the centre.

The posterboy for this was Mario Mandzukic, a 6-foot-3 target striker who Allegri regularly fielded on the flank. The idea was to a) send long balls diagonally, rather than straight, and let the Croatia international dominate a smaller full-back in duels, then b) have him arrive at the back post for crosses, taking advantage of a smaller marker again.

Despite all the talent Juventus possessed from 2015-2019 — we’re talking Paulo Dybala, Paul Pogba and more — Mandžukić emerged as crucial for the club in this role. Before him, players such Fernando Llorente, Alessandro Matri and Álvaro Morata — all very capable of winning a header themselves — were utilised.

With that preference for profile in mind, it’s remarkable that Lukaku and Allegri have never crossed paths. Amid a pretty dry transfer market for wide target men, the Belgium international is the perfect fit for the role, possessing great size, speed and finishing ability.

Perhaps there was a recruitment window between 2015 and 2017, before Lukaku’s £75m move from Everton to Manchester United, or later in 2022 or 2023, when he left Chelsea to join Inter Milan and Roma on loan. Some say you can’t play for Juve once you’ve played for Inter, but Antonio Conte crossed that divide not long ago…

If you’ve ever watched Verratti pirouette across midfield, gliding away from pressure like it’s the easiest thing in the world, and thought “he belongs at Barcelona,” well, you’re not the only one.

These feelings manifested particularly strongly when Paris Saint-Germain — the club where he spent 11 incredible years — met Barcelona in the Champions League several times. We associate tiki-taka possession football with Barca; we watched Verratti play tiki-taka; we put two and two together.

Verratti is still only 31 but, having moved to Qatari side Al-Arabi, it’s fair to say he’s entered the twilight stage of his career. That means he’ll probably never play for his spiritual soulmate club, nor pair up with his spiritual soulmate manager Guardiola, who is the godfather of modern possession football.

It’s a shame, as the way Verratti moves the ball so effortlessly is so very Pep, and he’d have been the perfect signal controller for his midfield, as the stats bear out. From 2013 to 2022, Verratti topped the Ligue 1 passing charts in six different seasons and came second in the other four, ranging from 77.7 passes per game (at worst) to a ridiculous 92.7 (in 2017-18).

That’s the kind of player Guardiola would entrust his life with on pitch, but the Italy international emerged a little too late to be in contention for a move to Barca while Pep was there: he resigned in 2012, the same summer that Verratti was plucked from Serie B side Pescara by PSG.

There were other opportunities down the line, though; he signed two contract extensions (2018 and 2022) in Paris, each time assessing his options and turning down potential exit routes. It wouldn’t even have surprised if, instead of moving to Qatar last summer, Man City signed him as an experienced central midfielder for the role Mateo Kovacic eventually took up for a paltry £25m.

Speaking of Kovacic, there’s a particular manager that could have achieved truly spectacular things with him if only they’d combined at some point during their careers.

What Klopp asks — and, crucially, does not ask — of his central midfielders would have suited the Croatia international to a tee: Work hard, carry the ball into space, feed the forwards. In essence, be an all-action transition midfielder who can take the team from the defensive phase to the attacking phase quickly and simply. In exchange for all of that vital work, there is almost zero expectation that you score any goals. Doesn’t that sound like the perfect fit for Kovacic?

The 29-year-old has played at the elite level for a decade, taking in spells at Inter, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester City. That’s quite a lot of hopping around for one so talented, so it’s almost beyond belief he didn’t fall into Klopp’s clutches either at Borussia Dortmund in 2013, or at Liverpool in any of the 2018, 2019 and 2023 summers.

It’s not a stretch to suggest Kovacic could have been a key cog in some of the teams Klopp has constructed — and sources told ESPN there was interest in making that happen in 2015 (just before Klopp arrived) for around £10m while he was at Inter.

Emre Can & José Mourinho

There’s one specific profile of player Mourinho loves more than most: The ultra hard-working, standard-bearing anchor midfielder; someone whom he can trust explicitly to do the dirty work when it’s needed. You know, Nemanja Matic.

Perhaps the fact Mourinho signed Matic almost wherever he went — Chelsea, Man United, Roma — is the reason Can never got the chance to play under him, despite being a perfect fit in so many ways.

Can has always been a vocal, guiding force from midfield. He’s someone you can trust to stay in position and anchor the formation, ensuring the defence never gets exposed, and the tenacity in his play — from hard-hitting tackles to committed blocking of shots and passes — is the sort of thing Mourinho always finds a place for in his squads. In every season between 2013-14 and 2019-20, Can averaged a combined three tackles and interceptions per game or more.

Reportedly, this union wasn’t far off happening on a couple of occasions: There was interest while Mourinho was at Manchester United (2016-18), per the Mirror, and again when he was at Tottenham (2019-21), per TuttoJuve.