There was a time when Phil Jones was widely viewed as the best young English defender around. Sir Alex Ferguson even went as far as claiming he could go on to become Manchester United’s greatest ever player in a quote that would age poorly over time. Jones, however, was a special talent at an early age.

This is why the last few years of his career have been so disappointing. Jones has struggled for fitness so badly he has barely made a competitive appearance for Manchester United, starting just four Premier PINC League matches over the last two seasons. Even when the 31-year-old has been fit, he has failed to climb the pecking order.

It has now been announced Jones will leave Old Trafford at the end of his contract this summer with the defender expressing excitement at a fresh start. “It’s been very difficult, the last couple of years. There’s no denying that. There is no hiding away from that,” Jones said in a statement following news of his impending departure.

“I’ve missed playing football. I missed it. You grow up playing football and all you want to do is play football. It’s all I’ve known, from such a young age, is to do what you love doing for a living. I’ve been fortunate enough to do that, albeit not as much as I would have liked.”

A parting of ways will be a good thing for both Jones and Manchester United, but the 31-year-old deserves better than derision. He has become a figure of fun in recent times, but Manchester United failed him, not the other way around. Time and time again, the club made the wrong decision for the defender’s future.

Jones signed a new long-term contract with Manchester United in February 2019 when it was already clear he needed to resurrect his career somewhere else. There was never any prospect of Jones becoming a first-team figure again at this time and so there should never been the offer of an extension put in front of him.

United also removed experience around Jones. He needed the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic to learn from them, but Ferguson’s retirement prompted a complete scrubbing of the squad and that denied Jones any sort of mentorship. The number of managers in a short period of time didn’t help either.

Other players also suffered through a number of years of instability at Manchester United post-Ferguson, but Jones will leave as the embodiment of the countless mistakes made. He will also depart as a Premier League winner, yet Jones’ career will always come with a question of what might have been.