Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho. (Source: Reuters)
Jose Mourinho on Monday warned his side Manchester United of a difficult season ahead if the Premier League runners-up do not strengthen their side.
Mourinho’s frustration over transfers has brought into spotlight his relationship with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward. Other than Brazil midfielder Fred, 19-year-old Portuguese defender Diogo Dalot and goalkeeper Lee Grant, Manchester Unitd have been rather quite in the transfer market, with its window closing on Thursday.
Liverpool, on the other hand, have spent more than 170 million pounds on new signings including Brazil’s World Cup goalkeeper Alisson and midfielders Fabinho and Naby Keita.
“My CEO knows what I want and I still have a few days to wait and see what happens,” the Portuguese manager told MUTV after his side’s pre-season friendly 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich on Sunday. “The other clubs who compete with us are really strong and already have fantastic teams. Or they are investing massively like Liverpool, who are buying everything and everybody.”
“If we don’t make our team better it will be a difficult season for us,” he added.
Speaking after the loss to the German giants, Mourinho said, “Finally, it’s over. Finally, such a difficult pre-season is over. The players were, once more, brilliant. They could not have done better than what they did. (It was a) fantastic experience for the boys.”
Manchester United begin their Premier League campaign at home to Leicester a day after the transfer window closes on August 9.