Mourinho worried as Premier League kicks off

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho could field his World Cup stars against Leicester City in Friday’s Premier League opener, Leicestershire Live reports.


Mourinho admits the likes of Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard “are not really fit” for the clash but with injuries elsewhere, the United manager says “we have needs”.

United already have half a dozen players ruled out with injury so they may be forced to risk a World Cup player at Old Trafford.

“(Sergio) Romero, he had a surgery after his injury in the World Cup, (Antonio) Valencia, he was injured in pre-season, Marcos Rojo, he was injured in the World Cup, (Diogo) Dalot had a surgery in Porto at the end of April and is not yet ready,” said Mourinho, talking through his injuries.

“Ander Herrera was injured against Bayern, (Nemanja) Matic was injured in the World Cup and had surgery in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago. And I think that’s it.

“They (the World Cup players) returned on Monday, trained Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and today (Thursday) so you can imagine that they are not really fit and ready.

“But we have needs, the list that I gave you before of the injured players is an important list and after training I will speak with that group of players because everybody is different physically and mentally and see how they feel they are and to understand to think how they can help or not help.”

Meanwhile, Mourinho continues to bemoan United’s fortune that they’re playing on a Friday.

“It’s not an opportunity, it’s a match, an important match,” he added.

“We would prefer to have a couple more days but the decision was to be first to play and that’s it. We’re ready.”