Mourinho hits out at rivals again

Jose Mourinho has stepped up his war of words with rivals Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klopp, suggesting that the pair’s respective clubs aren’t big enough to make a signing like Manchester United's world-record £89m capture of Paul Pogba.

After suggesting last week that the Arsenal and Liverpool managers were “not ethical" after they questioned the fee the Old Trafford club were reportedly set to pay for the former Juventus midfielder, the United boss has now added fuel to the fire with his latest comments.

Speaking following the announcement that the Pogba deal had been completed, Mourinho said: "I know the discussion, I understand that, sometimes in football, things happen and the club breaks the record, but this is only possible at clubs like Man United.

"When I heard some of the comments and heard some of the managers criticising that, I don't think they ever have this problem because, to have this problem, you need to be at one of the top clubs in the world. So at Man United it can happen."

Commenting on Pogba’s arrival, Mourinho warned fans that it may take a while for the French international to show his best in a United shirt.

"He's a very young player, an unbelievable midfield player with such physicality but, at the same time, such agility, co-ordination, skill. He has everything," the Portuguese said.

"What he has to learn now is how to play with us because I always say that in football you can be a super player, like he is, but a team is a team and you need to learn how to play in the team, and the team needs to learn how to play with you.

"We need to get the best out of him and this will be a process. So if he needs protection, I am here to protect.

"I know some people think that he arrives here now and, the first time he touches the ball, he scores, but I'm here to protect him and give him the best conditions to be what we think he is going to be, which is a football player for Man United, a reference for this club. I'm so happy."

Mourinho also revealed that he is happy with his squad heading into the new season for the first time in many years following the signing of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitarayan and Eric Bailly before Pogba’s arrival.

"It's the first time I've worked with such a number of players because I'm used to working with 20 plus the keepers, and we have in the squad 23 plus the keepers - and even so we had to make decisions and let some players go on loan, and try to sell others," he added.

"But this group of 23 is a great group and I think in this moment - and I told them this - there is a little bit of frustration for the ones that I have not selected.

"They work hard to be in the match and they aren't, and this is going to happen in the next two or three weeks because we have just one Premier League match.

"But, in September, the Capital One Cup starts, the Europa League starts, we start playing three matches a week and then everybody is involved and the squad is good. The empathy between the guys is really good too, so I'm happy with the squad."

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