Phil Jones in a Manchester United jersey is now something of a collector’s item.
“Jones, arguably the way he is looking, could be our best ever player.”
The fabled and not forgotten words of Sir Alex Fergusson in 2013, one of his final statements as a manager.
Almost a decade down the line and Fergie couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Instead of becoming one of United’s greats, Jones turned into an internet meme, a comical figure, a punchbag for online gags.
Once the sparkle of a Scotsman’s eye, the 29-year-old is just a small speck in the footballing universe.
He hasn’t played a competitive match for the seniors since 2019, detained by a long-term knee injury.
The defender is set to emerge from his cave later today to see the sunlight, as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side take on West Ham United in the League Cup.
Just to give Jones peace of mind he did once actually play football, here is a look at his previous start in a Red Devils shirt ahead of a potential return tonight.
26th January 2020 – Tranmere Rovers 0-6 Manchester United
A date to put in the diary; the last time Jones represented United’s first team.
Solskjaer’s reds travelled to Tranmere Rovers for an FA Cup fourth-round fixture.
It was that long ago, fans were still allowed inside Prenton Park before the pandemic hit.
As to avoid a giant-killing, the Premier League outfit fielded a pretty strong XI.
Alongside Jones in defence was regular centre-half pairing Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof.
Somewhat surprisingly, Solskjaer opted to play wing-backs, deploying Luke Shaw and Diego Dalot as his wide men.
In midfield, the wily Nemanja Matic next to Andreas Pereira, with Jesse Lingard just in front.
Up top, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood.
United, to their credit, were taking the tie very seriously.
And the scoreline reflected that.
After just 20 minutes, they had scored three times through Maguire, Dalot and Lingard.
Jones himself made it four at 41 minutes, before Martial added a fifth on the stroke of half time.
Greenwood completed the dozen shortly into the second period to seal a sizeable scoreline victory for the visitors.
If a rare goal wasn’t enough, Jones also received the only yellow card for United in the game.
Little did he know those 90 minutes in Tranmere would be his final for well over 12 months.
Could that run finally end tonight? For his sake, we hope so.
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