Mourinho discusses Matic link; insists Man Utd want two more

Nemanja Matic: Insists he enjoyed working for Mourinho

Nemanja Matic: Insists he enjoyed working for Mourinho

Jose Mourinho has refused to be drawn into Manchester United’s interest in Nemanja Matic – but insists the club have signed only 50% of their targets this summer.

United have so far signed Victor Lindelof from Benfica and Romelu Lukaku from Everton, but the club remain keen to bring in a central midfielder and a winger.

Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic, Tottenham defensive midfielder Eric Dier and Chelsea’s Matic have all been linked with a move to Old Trafford.

But when asked directly about United’s interest in Matic, Mourinho would not be drawn on his former player – only his summer intentions.

“I can’t say any word about a player that is a Chelsea player,” the United boss said at their UCLA training base. “I can’t.

“It’s difficult. It was a little bit the same with (Alvaro) Morata. Matic is a Chelsea player and we have to respect the player, the club, the owner, the manager.

“I don’t want to be disrespectful and be speaking about the player.

“We don’t have our door closed, we are not happy with just Lukaku and Lindelof.

“We need more. We wanted four so I would say 50 per cent of the job done, but I don’t want to say that, because everything is so difficult that I wouldn’t like to be in (executive vice-chairman) Ed Woodward’s position negotiating.

“So maybe we don’t get two, maybe we get one, but at least we need one player to give us a little bit more options.”

 

Mourinho admits squad needs balance

“The squad needs that balance. We have players that belong to the squad, but they cannot play football for the next three, four months: Marcos Rojo, Ashley Young, Luke Shaw, if Zlatan stays.

“We have three or four players that only by the end of the year they can be back to football, so we need two more players I would say.

“At least one, but I don’t want to say Matic or any other name, because I don’t think it’s correct to do it.”