JOSE MOURINHO has slammed Manchester United’s pre-season tour of the US, claiming he wouldn’t buy a ticket if he was a fan. Mourinho’s verdict comes after Ander Herrera and Eric Bailly took United’s list of unavailable players to 17, with the injured duo serious doubts for tomorrow’s tour finale against Real Madrid in Miami. The United boss, who also revealed Nemanja Matic is out for the start of the season after undergoing abdominal surgery, pulled no punches after his side’s 4-1 defeat to arch rivals Liverpool in Michigan. “The atmosphere was good but if I was them I wouldn’t have come,” said Mourinho, whose criticism is certain to anger organisers of the International Champions Cup. “I wouldn’t have spent my money to watch these two teams. I watched Chelsea against Inter earlier and people had decided the beach was better. The stadium was empty.” It is understood United are being paid around £30m for playing in the ICC, with Mourinho having effectively told fans to stay away from their final game against Real.
United and Liverpool drew a crowd of 101,254 at the Big House, but Mourinho is more concerned about the number of players he has available. “This is not our team, not our squad,” said Mourinho, who has nine players out injured and eight not due back in training until next week following their World Cup exploits. “We started the game with almost half of the players not going to belong to our squad. “If you say reinforcements you’re saying players I’d like to buy, then that’s another thing. But this is not even 30 per cent of my squad. “In relation to this game, we have four or five players who are dead because they care for the team. “They tried to give everything, even risking themselves because they don’t want to let all the kids do it by themselves. “We’re trying to play these matches as best we can. But we can’t do it. What did this game give me? Nothing at all.
“We’re not playing here to improve the team or the dynamic, we’re playing here to just survive and have some not very ugly results.” Mourinho’s mood has not been helped by United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward’s perceived failure to deliver the transfer targets he identified before the summer break. United have made three signings but Mourinho fears he will not land both Leicester’s Harry Maguire and Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic before August 9 transfer deadline. “I would like to have two more players, but I think I’m not going to have two,” said Mourinho. “I think it’s possible I’m going to have one. “I gave a list to my club of five names a few months ago and I’ll wait to see if it’s possible to have one of these players. “If it’s not possible, we keep fighting and working and believing in the players that we have.”
One player who will not start the season is midfield general Matic, who joined the tour in Los Angeles only to be unable to train before undergoing surgery in Philadelphia. Matic has flown back to Manchester, joining skipper Antonio Valencia who left the tour early with a torn calf muscle
Striker Anthony Martial remains in Paris having also left the US for the birth of his second child. Mourinho added: “We have Alexis Sanchez and Juan Mata to play every minute in every match. Now we have Real Madrid and after that Bayern Munich.
“I just hope that the boys that are on deserved holidays, they take care. “I also hope somebody wants to do what Marcus Rashford and Phil Jones decided to do, which is to be back a little bit earlier to try to help the team because, for the beginning of the season, we are going to be in trouble.”
