‘Cold’ Victor will be a star at Reds, says former boss
VICTOR Lindelof will prove a good signing for United because he ‘has a lot of value’ and is ‘very cold, very competitive and has a great deal of quality’, according to Benfica manager Rui Vitoria.
The 23-year-old finally completed his £30.7m move from the Portuguese side in June to become Jose Mourinho’s first signing of the summer after being scouted for a number of months.
The Sweden international has made just four competitive starts since then and only made his first league appearance of the season as an injury-time substitute against Liverpool on Saturday, although he started against his former club in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Mourinho has maintained that Lindelof will be eased in, step by step, and Vitoria believes the three-time Portuguese League winner will soon prove his worth at Old Trafford.
“He is a very high-quality player, he has been playing with Jose Mourinho,” he said.
“Of course when you move from the Portuguese championship to an English championship, there is a phase, a stage of adaptation.
“But I do foresee that in the future Lindelof will be a player of Jose Mourinho’s team.
“He has a lot of value, he is very cold, very competitive and has a great deal of quality.” NEMANJA Matic has hailed Jose Mourinho as the best coach he has ever worked with.
The United boss brought the midfielder back to Chelsea for £21m in January 2014 amid interest from David Moyes’ United, and the Serbia international helped the Stamford Bridge club to two Premier League titles in three years.
Matic, 29, then joined Mourinho at United in the summer after Chelsea agreed to sell him for a fee rising up to £40m, and he has quickly impressed at Old Trafford.
United tried to sign Matic last year, just eight months after Mourinho substituted him during Chelsea’s galling home defeat to Southampton having only sent him on at half-time.
Despite that setback, the player considers Mourinho to be the finest coach he has worked with, and has given an insight into how different he is with the United players.
“Mourinho is a brand, and the best coach I’ve ever worked with,” Matic said.
“Sometimes it isn’t easy to work with him, because he always demands more.
“Even when you play the best match in your career, he considers that you can play better in the next match.
“I co-operated excellently with him at Chelsea, and the fact that Mourinho is the coach at United was the decisive factor in my choosing my new environment.
“Privately, he’s completely different from the way he is perceived by the general public.
“This is a man who possesses all human virtues. He’s not at all cold or conceited, as he is presented in the media.
“He has created an excellent group of players with huge potential, and everything is there for us to achieve good results.
“I don’t want to talk about the goals of the club, but when I mention Manchester United I think the ambitions are clear to everyone.
“We will do our best to achieve the results that previous generations had.”
Matic also revealed his six-yearold son is due to join United’s youth set-up.
“The fact that I’m playing for United is the pinnacle of my career and of everything I’ve achieved in football,” Matic said. “I really like it in Manchester, and the family has got used to the city.
“London is bigger than Manchester, but I needed very little to make me happy in my new environment - just to be together with my wife Aleksandra, my six-year-old son Filip and threeyear-old daughter Tea. The children have a good school in Manchester, and I’m particularly glad that my son started football training. He has a place reserved in United’s junior ranks.”
Matic admitted his compatriot and namesake Nemanja Vidic is an inspiration for him to succeed at United.
“Vidic is spoken about with great respect in Manchester,” Matic added. “He was a fantastic player, one of those I looked up to.
“When I debuted for Serbia, he was one of the captains. He was a real leader, one of the greats.
“Nemanja left an indelible mark at United. Just imagine how hard it is to be a foreigner and the captain of a team like the one at this famous English club.
“I will do my best to repeat the success that Vidic had, and I know that it will be very tough.
“I do not want them to ask me some day ‘what are you even doing here?’
“I’m privileged to be following in his footsteps, and if I’m even half as respected among the fans as Nemanja I will be overjoyed.
“I am also honoured to be using the same dressing room where he spent the golden years of his fantastic career.”