I AM ON FIRE!
Matic signing has Mourinho elated as he eyes tilt at league title
WHILE £75million striker Romelu Lukaku has been signed to fill the void left by 28-goal Zlatan Ibrahimovic, it is the arrival of Nemanja Matic that represents a clear boost for Manchester United’s Premier League title chances, according to manager Jose Mourinho.
The 29-year-old Serbian (right) was far from the most glamorous member of Chelsea’s championship teams of 2015 and 2017, but he gave more talented players the freedom to cause havoc by doing the dirty work in midfield. It is something Paul Pogba and others should benefit from when United begin their league campaign against West Ham at Old Trafford today.
‘When I joined Man United last year, I thought immediately that we needed a kind of Matic. But there are not many like that, just a couple,’ said Mourinho, who lost out on N’Golo Kante 12 months ago and also pursued Tottenham’s Eric Dier this summer.
‘I thought about Matic but I never like to go to players where I think it’s an impossible mission (to sign them).
‘When I got a call that Matic wants to play for me, I thought he was the perfect player for me. It’s not just for his qualities but my relation with him and the way I know him.’
If Mourinho is feeling the pressure of maintaining his record of winning league titles within two years at Porto, Chelsea (twice), Inter Milan and Real Madrid, he’s not showing it.
‘I’m on fire,’ he smiled when asked to describe his mood. Becoming the first United manager to finish on top of the pile since Sir Alex Ferguson is great motivation for someone with his pride and ego, and many of the troubles that afflicted his first season, despite winning two cup trophies, have disappeared. Mourinho likes his teams to be streetwise and physically imposing. Matic fits the bill on both counts and you wouldn’t blame West Ham’s players if they shrank a little in the tunnel this afternoon standing alongside him and Lukaku, Pogba and Eric Bailly. ‘Matic is one of those players where there are no question marks with him. He doesn’t need time to adapt, he’s not a young guy coming from another country, he doesn’t need to learn the Premier League,’ added Mourinho. ‘He’s 29, with five years in the Premier League and lots of experience. He’s one of those players who gives me consistency which is what I like. Matic normally plays to a certain level (holds his hand up), sometimes a little above that and sometimes a little below. But Matic is Matic. I trust that the player is going to perform, so I think he is a fantastic signing.’ Mourinho could field the most expensive starting XI the Premier League has ever seen, featuring the country’s two most expensive players — Pogba and Lukaku — costing a total of around £400m. Both they and Manchester City have been accused of recklessly buying their way to success because of the vast sums involved but Mourinho doesn’t think it provides any guarantees in itself and says Tottenham, who have not spent anything in this window, are also challengers.
‘Of course to buy lots of good players is important and better squads are better equipped to win the title. That is normal but not enough,’ he stresses.
‘I think every one of us in his own way is equipped to do it. I think Tottenham without any spending is equipped to win the title because they have fantastic team, fantastic manager, great stability and have been together for a long time.
‘Man City, fantastic manager, great spending, already very good players, are equipped. Arsenal the same, they didn’t sell the top players like Ozil, Alexis, that some expected. Liverpool is equipped. Chelsea were the champions easily, they lost some players but bought some players. I just think the competition can be better than ever.’
Mourinho’s confidence is largely because he feels United are a club that now carries his influence. ‘I was thinking I needed three transfer windows, but after two I have a good group and the club as a football club is much better equipped.
‘We are much better organised at every level. The medical department is better, the logistics, how we organise training routines, the analysis department.
‘I am doing the work that I’ve done with every other club so we go for it this season. We are going to try to win the title, we are going to try to give a hard fight to the top teams in the Champions League and as you know I always loved the English cups.’
Having been accused last season of being too downbeat and complaining about his lonely life in Manchester, Mourinho enters 2017-18 cutting a different figure.
He lets it be known he arrived at the club’s training ground at 9.30 on Friday morning and worked flat out until the evening when he dashed back to his hotel to watch Arsenal beat Leicester, his busy day punctuated by a two-hour training session in the afternoon.
‘I was not sitting around having tea,’ he says. ‘My dedication to my job is always the maximum, even more than when I started.
‘At the end of the season we will see the results, but I look forward to it with optimism and enthusiasm. I want to play West Ham — a difficult match — then go to Swansea for another difficult match. I want the Champions League to start. I am on fire.’