The France global returned to Old Trafford just four years after the 23-year-old moved to the Serie A giants from the Red Devils in 2012.
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The United hierarchy are not panicking however and have backed their new managerial choice, comparing his confrontational side to that of Sir Alex Ferguson.
The form of Wayne Rooney remains a big concern for Mourinho, with the United captain woefully out of form and reportedly feeling the pressure amid a huge amount of scrutiny on his performances. “But give him 25 metres and you have to press”.
Ander Herrera has been namechecked in several articles claiming that Jose Mourinho is struggling to “reprogram” players after Louis van Gaal’s two years in charge.
But while United’s squad are thought to acknowledge the scale of the task, they are increasingly concerned that process is being aggravated, not smoothed, by Mourinho’s tongue lashings.
However, it has taken Mourinho longer than he expected to erase Van Gaal’s philosophy despite bringing in four new players in Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
He also felt the need to remind his players in public last week that they should not need any extra motivation from him to succeed when they enjoy a superstar lifestyle.
“His delivery of criticism is nasty”, one source said. Mourinho was accused yesterday of “losing the plot” by Christophe Dugarry, the former Barcelona striker and World Cup victor with France.
“It was very unkind of Mourinho to call out Luke Shaw on Sunday – not least because he was by no means the only one at fault for Watford’s second goal”, he said. “He’s won titles since but I think he has lost the plot”.
There has certainly been surprise in some quarters of the dressing room that Michael Carrick has been overlooked in midfield.
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According to Neil Custis in the Sun, United manager Jose Mourinho believes Drinkwater is the deep-lying midfielder he needs to allow Paul Pogba more freedom, and the Old Trafford outfit will look to tempt the 26-year-old Englishman with a £150,000-per-week contract.
