Manchester United’s first Premier League game under Jose Mourinho will feel like a final audition for numerous stars on view at Bournemouth on Sunday.
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Minnows Bournemouth earned plaudits for avoiding relegation but they finished just five points above the bottom three and Howe is aware the battle for points will be even more ferocious after the heavy close-season spending across the league.
If nothing else, it would appear Fonte is telling Jose Mourinho that he is open to a move to Manchester United, if the speculation is in fact true.
“But at Manchester United Football Club you can not say differently, we have to fight for the title”.
“I have grown up in football as a manager since 2001 more or less and – especially when I came to England in 2004 – I saw Man United as a winning team, not as always an attacking team”, Mourinho told reporters.
Forward to May and Van Gaal’s side was due to play The Cherries in the season’s final fixture, needing a win to retain an outside shot at the Champions League.
“He’s an intelligent player and I think I am too”.
“We have all the respect for the others and maybe we don’t win, maybe we arrive end of season and are happy to finish top four”.
Pogba won’t be available for the regular season opener versus AFC Bournemouth tomorrow, but he will be set to go for week two versus Southampton.
Manchester United attacker Zlatan Ibrahimovic aims to help Marcus Rashford develop into one of the best around.
“At that moment Mata was the first player to be called up to play and played 25 minutes”.
Former Red Devil Jordan admits that Pogba’s transfer could have inflated the market, but he feels it doesn’t matter as Mourinho wanted the Frenchman at Old Trafford.
“I don’t speak about suspended players or injured players, I speak only about the ones that are ready to play”.
But Mourinho has an otherwise fit squad to select from.
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‘The principles of play that we work on every day are about systems with lots of similarities, in order for the players to be comfortable with that. “He is a great talent, it is great to see him here – but from our perspective we don’t want to be in awe of him, we want to keep him quiet”.
