After months of speculation Jose Mourinho was finally appointed as the manager of Manchester United today. The Portuguese has replaced Louis Van Gaal just a few days after he got the sack. Despite winning the FA Cup the Dutchman could not save his job after failing to qualify for next season's Champions League.
It will be interesting to see what the fans will think of him when he takes charge of his first game at Old Trafford, but so far it seems to be positive. Fans obviously are used to seeing him as the enemy when he was in charge of Chelsea but will now have to get used to the idea of the Portuguese as the manager.
But what has Mourinho said about United players and others affiliated with the club? Let’s find out:
Wayne Rooney
We start with the player that currently leads the Manchester United team and has been the heart of the team for many years now. Mourinho is a known admirer of the English striker and was linked with a move for him on several occasions.
Here's what he said about the player back in 2013 when Chelsea were heavily linked in bringing him to London:
“It's a funny, tricky question from an ethical point of view as I can't talk about players from other teams. But it is not my character to speak with hypocrisy, I always tell what I see. He's a player that I like very much. Being fast and direct I like him very much, but he's a Manchester United player.”
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Bastian Schweinsteiger has been a key member of the Germany squad and in his prime, he was one of the best midfielders in the world. One of his most memorable games was against Argentina in the 2010 World Cup when he skipped past three or four players in a blue shirt and set up his teammate for the goal.
Mourinho has heaped praise on United’s anchorman as well:
“My instinct as a coach is that the best Germany is when Schweinsteiger gives the stability that the team needs in midfield.”
Juan Mata
It’s a well-known fact that Juan Mata is not Mourinho's favourite player. The Spaniard's Chelsea career ended after the manager decided to drop him from the team completely and ship him off to Manchester United in the January transfer window.
It will be interesting to see what will happen to Juan this season but you can be sure it won’t be a smooth ride. Here is what Mourinho said about the player back in 2013.
“There are things I cannot speak about. But he played against Everton from the beginning and you can analyse his performance.And he played against Basel, not like Ba or Mikel, coming in to rescue the game, but he came on when the team was winning 1-0 and when he had specific tasks to do.”
“It's part of a process with him. One thing is to play with Ramires and Oscar in the side, them closing (down) each side, and Mata as a number 10 behind a striker, to have clever assists and to have clever passes; fantastic actions because he has great talent.”
“Another thing to adapt to the way we want to play. In this moment, Oscar is my number 10 and, if somebody tells me that Oscar is not Chelsea's best player since the beginning of the season, I'd have to disagree.”
Luke Shaw
Luke Shaw was one of the most sought after teenagers in 2014 after his wonderful season with Southampton. Manchester United and Chelsea were in a power struggle for his signing but it was the Red Devils who eventually landed the youngster for a big sum of money
Jose Mourinho made an interesting comment after the signature
“If we pay to a 19-year-old boy what we were being asked for, to sign Luke Shaw, we are dead. We would have killed our stability with financial fair play and killed the stability in our dressing room.”
“Because when you pay that much to a 19-year-old kid – a good player, fantastic player – but when you pay that amount of money, the next day, we would have had players knocking on our door.”
“They would have been saying, ‘How is it possible I play 200 games for this club, won this and that, yet a 19-year-old comes here and gets more money than I get?’”
“It would’ve killed immediately our balance and we couldn’t allow that. I don’t criticise another club for paying it.”
“They can pay what they want. I don’t have any comment about it. But for my club we can say it would be very negative for us, especially when we can say Felipe (Luis) is much less expensive. Sometimes you have to make decisions.”
Now Mourinho is the left back's new manager and might not have a say in how much he earns.
Ander Herrera
The comment about Ander Herrera came last year when the midfielder was booked for diving while playing against Chelsea. Mourinho's remark on the incident after the game was rather controversial:
“I am happy that it was not a Chelsea player. If it was a Chelsea player, on Sky it would be somebody’s ‘crimes’, it would be ‘cheating’, it would be ‘the champions of the team without fair play’ and these kind of things. Because it’s a Man United player tomorrow nobody remembers.”
Ryan Giggs
Ever since Mourinho was linked with the Manchester United job, rumours of Ryan Giggs quitting his job have been doing the news. Even now there is a lot of speculation that he is unhappy with the appointment.
But the Portuguese himself holds the Welshman in high regards. In 2009, he said this about the player:
“What can you say about a man who has won 10 Premier League titles? The proof is in his medals. Yes, maybe we are talking about the greatest Premier League player of all time. At the very least no player has contributed so much to a single Premier League club as Ryan Giggs has to Manchester United.”
Manchester United
Mourinho has had his fair share of tussles in the past with his new club, but there is no doubt he considers Manchester United as one of the greatest clubs in the world. He even once stated his interest of taking over once Sir Alex Ferguson retired and now he’s got his wish.
Here’s what he said about United when he was Chelsea’s manager in 2013
“It's always a privilege. Not just when you win. We all want to play against big opponents, big coaches, big players, big teams. Man Utd represents all of that.”
So now it remains to be seen how Mourinho’s United will career will pan out. For his sake and the fans lets hope it is a huge success.
