While Manchester United have looked solid in their two opening Premier League fixtures of the new season with Eric Bailly and Phil Jones at the heart of the defence, Jose Mourinho will be forced to shuffle the deck when their Champions League campaign kicks off next month.
Both Bailly and Jones are serving European suspensions, the Ivorian for his straight red card against Celta Vigo in the second leg of the Europa League semi-final, while the former Blackburn man can't play for after he was charged for his conduct while dealing with a doping officer after the final in Stockholm.
The incident took place after the final whistle and it all kicked off because Jones, who was an unused substitute in the final, was not allowed to pose in a group picture to pay tribute to the victims of the terror attack in Manchester two days prior.
For this fact, most sided with Jones when the news broke, but now that the doping officer in question has revealed what was said [via Manchester Evening News], it's clear that the England defender was never going to get off without punishment.
UEFA's head of president office, Luka Zajc, wrote:
The first player from Manchester United, Phil Jones, comes to the DCS (doping control station) and was very upset he had to be in the DCS. He wanted to leave to celebrate with them team, but I told him that he had to do the sampling first.
He then told me I was a fucker doing this and that I had a fucker’s job and how I could be so fucking stupid to consider having such a fucking job.
I told him that this was the UEFA regulations and that my job was to do the control. He still continued to tell me I had a fucker's job and how I even could do that job.
I then asked him to calm down and stop insulting me and then he said he didn't want to talk to me anymore.
Was it fair for him to be pissed off that he couldn't partake in the Manchester tribute photo? Yes, but that doesn't give him the right to attack the person who has been sent to do their job.
Robbie Keane has spoken in the past about how he was denied the opportunity to celebrate Ireland's progression to the knockout stages of the 2002 World Cup due to the doping protocol, and it can often be extremely difficult for players to actually do what is required for them after such physical exertion, so it does seem crazy they still haven't found a way to get the job done and keep the players happen.
It remains to be seen if Jones and/or Man Utd respond to these latest quotes, but you would have to imagine they are likely to just want to move on.
