“I think you always feel pressure when you play for Manchester United”, he said after arriving in Shanghai on Wednesday with United for their pre-season China tour. So now with Jose in there, he knows what he wants and how to get it, he knows how to win titles. So I expect to see two teams in different moments of their preparation, but it is good for us because it is more of a challenge.
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The same can not be said for some of his United team-mates, with speculation growing around a number of players as Mourinho shapes his squad.
“We were not with this old-fashioned idea of, “I don’t sell players to my direct competitors inside of my own country”. So that is what we need to get back to.
Another promising sign for United fans from this picture is that their best young players are mixing with senior members like Rooney, which suggests a great team spirit.
“It is going to be very exciting to watch them, especially in the same city now”, he said. He knows that I know he is a good player and he has space in the squad. Firstly, Henrikh Mkhitaryan – who signed for United from Dortmund earlier in the month – is likely to play some part in the game.
Former Red Shinji Kagawa is in the Dortmund squad for the game after leaving the club to return to the Westfalenstadion for a second spell in 2014. And when you look at the experience of the managers and the experiences they have had in the game, it does not get any bigger than what we have got in the Premier League and it really shows the strength of the Premier League to have these kind of managers involved.
“It was his decision and only his decision, and I don’t like players that want to leave. You always feel you have to prove yourself every season, because it’s a dream to play for them”, the England captain said.
More talks are scheduled between the parties and United now have to decide whether they want to spend a world record fee for the midfielder, who has won four Serie A titles in four years with Juventus and reached the 2015 Champions League final with the club.
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A United spokesman added: “We are aware of the bad weather in Beijing, but also that the organizers are working very hard on getting the game to go ahead”. We have one space for a midfield player.
