Man Utd boss Jose Mourinho makes grim warning over Premier League title bid - 7M sport

Man Utd boss Jose Mourinho makes grim warning over Premier League title bid

JOSE MOURINHO admits his current Manchester United squad is not good enough to win the Premier League title.


Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2018 by Dailystar.co.uk

Man Utd boss Jose Mourinho makes grim warning over Premier League title bid
Jose Mourinho knows Manchester United need two more players for a title tilt

Mourinho believes United are still two players short of challenging champions Manchester City for next season's crown.

While Liverpool have spent £175m strengthening their squad this summer, United's only significant outlay has been £52m on Brazilian midfielder Fred.

Mourinho is becoming increasingly frustrated at United's failure to bring in the players he wants to add to his squad.

Top of Mourinho's wish-list are England World Cup star and Leicester defender Harry Maguire and Inter Milan and Croatia winger Ivan Perisic.

They are likely to cost a combined £130m and Mourinho wants deals wrapped up as soon as possible to give his new signings time to settle in.

Asked if the current squad were good enough to vie for the title, Mourinho would only say: "I don't answer to your question."

Mourinho is frustrated United have so far only made three signings this summer - Fred, Diogo Dalot and reserve keeper Lee Grant - while rivals Liverpool spend big to turn them into title contenders.

When asked how many new signings he felt he needed, Mourinho said: "I would get two more players. One thing is what I would like. Another thing is what is going to happen."

Mourinho has cut a miserable figure on United's pre-season tour as he prepares his squad for the new campaign.

Those plans have not been helped with 10 first-teamers, including World Cup-winner Paul Pogba and United's England contingent, who remain on extended breaks following their exploits in Russia.

United continue their preparations against AC Milan and Mourinho said: "If you look to the players that Chelsea and Liverpool have in the pre-season, especially these two teams, also Arsenal, if you compare, you see the difference of the situation.

"Manchester City and Tottenham are in a similar situation as we, are but you can see that some other clubs are in a difficult situation.

"Our first match of the season is against Leicester and the second one is against Brighton and, if I look to Leicester, if I'm not wrong, only Harry Maguire and Jamie Vardy were in the World Cup in the final phase, because Kasper Schmeichel was back sooner.

"So I think a team working for six weeks minimum, with all the players except one defender and one striker that can join in the last weekend and probably be available, it's clear it's a much better situation for them.

"When I look to Brighton, I don't think they have any player that isn't doing a very good pre-season with lots of training and matches.

"So against Leicester and Brighton, the situation is not amazing for us and I would say the third match - against Tottenham - playing against a team in a similar situation as us, after three weeks, is okay.

"It's almost like you need a pre-season with them. But for the first two matches we have to fight for the points, so that's what we are going to do with the players available."

Mourinho continued his downbeat mood by revealing he is getting everything he wanted out of United's US tour and said: "No. I got the facilities, as always, and I got the incredible commitment of the people involved in the process of preparing a good pre-season.

"I'm happy with the matches, the evolution of the matches. But I don't have the players to work, I don't have the majority of the players that are going to be in the squad on August 9 when the market closes and we can make the squad official for the season.

"So of course I'm not happy to have just a few players."



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