After signing from Southampton in July 2015 for a fee around £24 million, Morgan Schneiderlin has endured what can only be described as a stop-start season. Making his full Manchester United début in the 1-0 win against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, he was named by the BBC as the best player making his debut out of the five on display. His first league goal came on the 17th October in what many people regard as our best performance of the season beating Everton 3-0.

However, like many other players in the squad under Louis van Gaal, just when you thought Schneiderlin was playing well, he was benched for the next game. In the 37 games, he was in the squad, he started 24, was used as a substitute four times and didn’t make it on the pitch eight times. As a Defensive Midfielder, the key for solidity is consistency and unfortunately for many including Schneiderlin, Louis van Gaal did not provide that, meaning performances dipped. If you look at the current Premier League champions, Leicester, their midfielders N’Golo Kante and Danny Drinkwater started 37 and 35 Premier League games respectively. That is so important for a midfield to settle and it was so lacking under Van Gaal. Eventually, the lack of games nearly cost Schneiderlin a place in the French national team for Euro 2016 after he was left out of the preliminary 23 man squad but a late injury to Lassana Diarra meant he joined the squad in Paris.

Fortunately for Morgan Schneiderlin, Louis van Gaal’s reign at United is over. Jose Mourinho the new man in charge and potentially a new start? If the English media are to be believed then it’s not good news for the Frenchman. Stories of Mourinho being interested in numerous defensive midfielders and the renewal of Michael Carrick’s contract has sparked a few questions over his future at the club. The main two players linked to the defensive role at Manchester United are Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic and the aforementioned N’Golo Kante. Nemanja Matic, who featured in 33 league games this season chipping in with two goals and three assists, is a favourite of Mourinho having brought him back from Benfica and made sure he played a pivotal role in their league winning season 2014/15. Apparently unsettled at Chelsea and Mourinho not happy with the current midfielders at United, it looks a good fit, especially with reports Mourinho would happily include Italian right-back Matteo Darmian as bait in the swap deal for Nemanja Matic.

N’Golo Kante is certainly a player who has impressed all managers around the globe this season earning not only a place in the French national team starting eleven but also in the Premier League’s Team of the Season. Many clubs have been linked with a bid for the midfielder including Arsenal, Real Madrid, and Manchester United. His work rate and incredible ability to appear everywhere on the pitch, always making crucial challenges and intercepting passes, has put himself on the radar of many clubs. This option surprisingly seems less likely as Leicester now have the money to offer him a new contract and Champions League football which is often an incentive used by the bigger clubs. Personally, I think he’ll stay at Leicester and carry on their remarkable story.

So where does that leave Morgan Schneiderlin? He needs time, regardless of the fact he is experienced in the Premier League, it’s a new team going through a transition phase. He has proven his quality at Southampton and at times for United this season gone. What capacity Mourinho will use him in is yet to be seen but personally I think he is good enough to feature in the starting eleven for many years to come, regardless if another defensive midfielder is purchased. He even proved at Southampton his ability to play as the single holding player in a more fluid 4-3-3 formation, which Jose Mourinho has adopted in the past. Regardless of what happens to Schneiderlin this summer, his is undoubtedly a talented player and will only get better with more games under his belt.