ERIC BAILLY speaks French and shares his name with an Old Trafford great.
If there was any doubt about winning over Manchester United fans, he also snubbed Pep Guardiola this summer after a call from Jose Mourinho.
His decision was helped by Didier Drogba telling him to play for the Special One while Yaya Toure was trying to lure him to Manchester City.
For a player barely known in the Premier League before his £30million move from Villarreal last month, the Ivory Coast defender has some big names in his contacts book.
Mauricio Pochettino is in there, too, from their time together at Espanyol.
Now he is ready to prove he made the right choice by choosing to work with Mourinho at United.
Bailly said: “I signed for United because I like Mourinho, as simple as that.
“I wanted to play for someone who works very hard. I didn’t speak to Pep Guardiola but the ‘second’ manager called me and Mourinho called me as well.
“He said come and play for me. I prefer Mourinho, in part because of Didier Drogba, who Mourinho worked with.
“I have played with Didier in the Ivory Coast, he is a friend and he told me, ‘Jose did this for me, Jose did that for me’.
“Yaya also called me and said come to City. But once Jose spoke to me and Didier gave me advice, I knew straight away I wanted to play for him.”
Bailly, 22, has enjoyed a stunning rise since breaking into senior football three years ago.
Spanish football experts, like Sky Sports pundit Gerry Armstrong, describe him as raw with plenty of aggression and athleticism.
Bailly, speaking at the club’s Adidas kit launch, said: “It was a long journey from Ivory Coast to Barcelona.
“But the manager saw me and liked me and brought me to Espanyol. Pochettino was the first-team coach, I was in the second team and when I worked with him I enjoyed it, he is a good coach.
“I spent four years there and learnt how to play in a new country, then at Villarreal.”
Bailly did enough last season to catch United’s eye and now he is hoping to emulate club legend Eric Cantona.
Bailly said: “When you are at Manchester United, Eric Cantona is a legend and somebody people always talk about.
“So I just want to try my best and see if I can match the level of the man, even though I know that will be very difficult.
“Every day I try to improve with my team-mates and be ready for the matches to come.”
Bailly certainly knows how to hit the right notes with fans.
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He has been compared with John Terry as a centre-back that Mourinho can help develop — but it is another United hero he wants to follow.
Bailly said: “I like John Terry and, especially, Nemanja Vidic.
“I watched them both on TV when I was in Spain. They are very strong and powerful, like I try to be. Terry plays the ball well but Vidic was more hard and played really hard.
“He was my favourite player at United and in the Premier League. I want to be like him with my performances for United.”
Bailly says he is learning already from what Mourinho has told him in training at Carrington and during the tour of China.
He said: “The coach has said a lot of things to me. He wants me to play in a certain way and he said I have to follow the rules.
“I think what Jose says is very important for the matches to follow.
“He has worked with some of the best players in the world and I am going to listen to him and do what he tells me.”
One note of caution was a booking against Borussia Dortmund in Shanghai last week when he booted the ball away.
Bailly said: “I was frustrated against Dortmund as we were losing 4-1 and it was late in the game.
“I know that in the Premier League I need to control my emotions and not react to situations even when we are losing.”
A hot-headed player called Eric at United? Sounds like a perfect match.
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