Jose: England’s a different market to rest of Europe... WE CAN’T WIN TITLE BY KILLING RIVALS
JOSE MOURINHO has warned Manchester United that the landscape of English football has changed.
With even the Premier League’s bottom side set to bank £ 100million in TV booty this season, Mourinho admits the biggest club in the country can no longer use their incredible wealth to pummel rivals into submission.
Despite shattering the world transfer record to land £89million Paul Pogba in the summer and investing another £300,000-aweek to bring Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Old Trafford, the 13- time Premier League champions are languishing at sixth in the table.
And in an appeal to the club’s owners and fans, the manager who won titles with Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid concedes it will take more than money to return the Reds to the very top.
He said: “Football has changed in the three years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired – this is the new football. Do you think I can go to Tottenham and buy two players to kill Tottenham? I can’t.
“I can’t go to Arsenal and buy their two best players or go to Chelsea and bring two of the players I love very, very much.
“That time is over. The situation where you could start to become the champions by attacking your opponents is over in this country.
“If you get a player from a top club you only get a player those clubs don’t want. You can’t hurt your direct opponents any more.
“The problem we’re finding is we’re getting stronger, but so are the others. It used to be that when one of the big clubs was getting stronger, another of the big clubs was getting weaker.
“At the moment you get stronger – but the others also get stronger.”
He added: “This isn’t Germany. In Germany, Bayern Munich start winning the league in the summer. Every year they buy their rivals’ best player. One se a s o n it ’ s Lewandowski (right), the next it is Mario Gotze. The next year it is Hummels.
“Real Madrid sell what they want to sell. Barcelona sell what they want to sell. Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain sell what they want to sell. So it is more difficult to have a very good market and to improve while your rivals get weaker. “Here in England, we’re improving – but so is everyone else. That means we have to grow up again – and it’s going to take more time.” United will not hesitate to again break the world record to persuade Atletico Madrid to surrender Antoine Griezmann in the summer. And Mourinho is desperate to leave the same l egacy at Old Trafford – his name alongside Ferguson and Sir Matt Busby – as at Estadio do Drago, Stamford Bridge, the San Siro and the Bernabeu.
Players who do not share that winning mentality will be dispensed with. And while the Portuguese accepts the title is beyond United this season, he is still set on adding to the Community Shield.
Mourinho said: “I have to win titles for the club to become a legend – like I did in every club I have been.
“If I want to make any comment about my previous clubs, I have the right to and nobody will have the right to ask me, ‘ What are you speaking about?’
“I’m a legend in my old clubs. I’m a legend at Porto, at Inter, at Chelsea. I belong to their history – like I belong to the history of Real Madrid.
“At Manchester United, I have the Community Shield – but nothing else.
“I am working hard – in fact I’m working harder than ever – but the reality is my history as a manager is made by 23 trophies.
“My history hasn’t been made by finishing second, finishing fifth, losing a cup final.”