JOSE IS MR GRUMPY
What’s up with Old Trafford’s ‘Special One’
What is wrong with Jose Mourinho? It is a question that is impossible to ignore and extremely difficult to answer.
Riddle me this, riddle me that, is Mourinho really miserable or is this all part of an act? If you listen to him speak or have watched him slouching his way from California to Arizona, and back again, projecting a mood of perpetual indifference to everything that has happened so far on Manchester United’s US tour, you would be forgiven for thinking all is not well.
He did not seem to enjoy having to leave their training base at the sparkling UCLA campus to play games in Phoenix and Santa Clara, he was infuriated by the delay in getting Alexis Sanchez a visa to enter the US, he is depressed by the absence of so many of his key players from this camp because of their international commitments at the World Cup.
He has been unimpressed by claims from Anthony Martial’s agent that, even though United have indicated they want to extend the forward’s contract by another year – taking it up to 2020 – the young Frenchman still wants to leave because he does not want to play for him anymore.
That prompted a fractious response, with Mourinho insisting he would not fight to keep an unhappy player.
Mourinho is frustrated by the lack of progress in recruitment, still waiting for the new centreback he wanted at the end of last season, still perplexed by the lack of urgency being shown when the transfer window shuts on August 9, barely in two weeks time.
Even when he is asked about a positive story, to comment on Paul Pogba’s inspirational performances for France, Mourinho, instead, wanted to stress that the club’s record signing is yet to show that sort of form consistently enough for his club.
Not for the first time, as he heads into his third season at Old Trafford, Mourinho does not look or sound like a man who is enjoying his job, which inevitably provokes you to question whether he is still the right man to do it.
Yet, this is the persona Mourinho chooses to project.
He is, according to those in and around the United camp, completely different away from the public glare – upbeat, positive and motivational.
Everything is fine, then, although I guess we will find out for real when United start the new season with two eminently winnable games against Leicester, at home, and Brighton away.
Pre-season matters, but only until the real action begins. —
Pre-season matters, but only until the real action begins