It is easy to see why players now in the youth set-up at United might worry their chances of making a first-team breakthrough will be reduced with Mourinho taking over.
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Mourinho signed a three-year deal worth of £36million on Thursday after LVG was sacked after two underwhelming years at Old Trafford.
Mourinho also won league championships in his first seasons at Porto and Inter before helping Real to their first La Liga crown in four years. A giant club must be for the best managers and I think I’m ready for it.
“To become Manchester United manager is a special honour in the game”, said Mourinho, who showed the contract he signed with the club in a post on his new Instagram account. “Manchester United belongs to a small group of clubs around the world where nobody can say “no”.
Even Mourinho’s fiercest supporters will concede that bringing through youth players has never been his priority at the clubs he has managed.
As an opposing manager with Chelsea, Mourinho had some pretty harsh things to say about his new club.
Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea in December but has established a reputation as one of the best coaches of all time.
Both Ronaldo and Mourinho worked together at Real Madrid where they won a La Liga title and Copa del Rey together. Southampton’s Sadio Mane is a player who has previously interested them, while Sporting’s Andre Carrillo has been cited as an option.
It’s been inevitable for some time that England’s most prestigious club would come calling for soccer’s most successful current manager, and confirmation arrived Friday. Juan Mata played in every league game this season, but would be right to have concerns over his future after Mourinho sold him at Chelsea.
Mourinho’s immediate task is to revive United’s ailing fortunes, having finished fifth in the Premier League last term and missed out on Champions League qualification.
In his first interview since being confirmed as Louis van Gaal’s successor Mourinho offered a confident assessment of United’s prospects three years on from the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. What is your message to United fans?
A Mourinho player if ever there was one.
Guardiola will be stationed a few short miles away at Manchester City, with two of world football’s most influential coaches set to resume their infamous rivalry.
“From the very start of his career in coaching he has had this incredible self-belief, great knowledge and incredible attention to detail, but also this ability to think outside the box in a way some managers don’t”.
“I have talked to him a few times about tactics”.
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Mourinho, who has won the Champions League with Porto and Inter Milan, will lead United in the Europa League next season.
