Bailly joined United from Villareal for a £30 million fee in early June, becoming Jose Mourinho’s first signing of the new era at Old Trafford.
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Since his arrival Mourinho has brought in defender Eric Bailly, midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and are understood to be pursuing a potentially record-breaking deal for Juventus’ France midfielder Paul Pogba.
“There is something big on the go, it’s going to be very interesting this year”, he said. “Let’s see if Pogba will also (come), then it will be even more interesting”.
Mourinho has invested intelligently in the transfer window so far, and if he can get one or two more signings over the line, he’d have a squad seemingly capable of winning the 2016/17 Premier League title. I wanted to play for someone who works very hard’.
“So to be in this squad you have to realise the squad is more important than the individual”.
With the Community Shield curtain-raiser against Leicester City taking place at Wembley next Sunday, the Portuguese is monitoring three defenders, as doubts persist over the capabilities of Phil Jones and Chris Smalling to convince, and stay fit, for a whole campaign. “‘I’m not entirely satisfied with the youth system you know”, he told me straightaway looking at me with those steely eyes. We have 38 matches in the Premier League, we have the possibility of 15 matches in the Europa League, plus domestic cups, we are going to play 60 matches.
But at Manchester United, that’s probably not enough to be loved by all. Much of the Red Devils’ resurgence was owed to an exciting substitute performance from Marcus Rashford, whose attacking efforts didn’t go unnoticed by a Zlatan Ibrahimovic watching on from the sidelines. Everything is step-by-step and the reality is we don’t have this time.
Mourinho had his squad training again the day they landed after returning from China, and the former Chelsea boss has hailed their commitment to his worth ethic.
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“I prefer this way, I prefer that they are on the pitch so I am happy”.
