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Mourinho on Mkhitaryan debut: It’s sweet how he touches the ball

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is gushing at the potential of young defender Axel Tuanzebe after his side’s comfortable 2-0 friendly win over Wigan earlier today.

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After 10 months injured on the sidelines, Luke Shaw made his return in Manchester United’s pre-season win over Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

The Ivory Coast worldwide impressed in United’s 2-0 victory over Wigan Athletic on Saturday but Mourinho says it was just the start of what will be a very active pre-season campaign for the defender due to his inability to speak English. He is magnificent the way he thinks about football, he thinks very quickly and it’s so sweet how he touches the ball. Having someone who can play in so many positions is always an advantage, and the Daily Mail report suggests Mourinho will use the Dutchman as a squad player. “That pleased me. Everybody played the match and everyone had a positive performance”.

“But thank you very much to Wigan, their manager and their players, to give us the training session we needed at this moment”.

“Mkhitaryan is a top-class player and now at the best stage for a footballer – 27/28 years old”, he told MUTV, as noted by Sky Sports. Although Mata was one of the most influential creative players in Chelsea at that time, Mourinho was reportedly unimpressed with the Spaniard’s defensive work rate.

As United play more pre-season games and players return from their post Euro breaks, fans will get a better idea of what the team will look like.

“Andreas [Pereira] has an fantastic talent, he has incredible vision and incredible technique”, Mourinho said.

“With Axel [Tuanzebe] – 10 minutes is enough!”

When asked how he was settling in at United, he added: “I am trying, because the first days are always very hard”.

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“They were not flawless of course because the conditions are not the best with only 10 days of training, accumulation of fatigue and no sharpness, so it takes time”, he said.

Mourinho pleased following Wigan victory