LEICESTER v MAN UTD RAIDERS AND THE LOST ART
Mourinho bemoans lack of poaching opportunities
JOSE MOURINHO claims Manchester United’s bid to be a dominant force again is taking longer than expected – because the days of raiding direct rivals are over.
United last won the title in 2013, the season Sir Alex Ferguson ambushed Arsenal to buy Robin van Persie who ended up with 26 goals and the Golden Boot.
Mourinho would like to swoop for Spurs duo Harry Kane and Dele Alli and Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic and Eden Hazard. But that is a nonstarter, and not because of money.
With the Premier League’s top players off limits, he has lined up £86million Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann as his main target although his first port of call in the past would have been one of his domestic rivals.
“That is the new football,” he said. “You can’t attack rivals any more. This isn’t Sir Alex’s time, it’s not Germany. In Germany, Bayern Munich start winning the league in the summer.
Kill
“They go to Borussia Dortmund every year and buy their best player. One day they go there and take Robert Lewandowski. The next year, they take Mario Gotze.
“After that it’s Mats Hummels, so they win the league in the summer. Do you think I can go to Tottenham and bring two Tottenham players to kill Tottenham? I can’t.
“I can’t go to Arsenal and bring the two best Arsenal players. I can’t go to Chelsea and bring two of the players that I love very, very much. That time is over. If you get a player from these clubs, you get a player they don’t want to keep.
“You can’t hurt any more your direct opponents. We’re growing up this season in relation to last season. But the problem is the others are also getting stronger.
“Real Madrid sells what they want to sell, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain the same. We’re improving but the other ones are also improving so it makes more difficult, it takes more time.”
Following the damaging midweek stalemate with Hull, Mourinho is looking for a reaction from his men at defending champions Leicester today. And the Old Trafford boss – who concedes his title hopes for this season are over – warned fans to brace themselves for more disappointment, claiming the club’s erratic recent league campaign made a top-four finish tricky.
Quest
The Portuguese is convinced the “lost” three years after Ferguson retired is still working against his team and their quest for a Champions League place next season.
He said: “I honestly think six teams have to be in the top four. Arsenal has to be, Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and United. Some are better prepared than others with more consistent work over the past few years. I want to have that feeling and for my players to have it too.
“The feeling is we have to be champions and play with that in mind even if we don’t have many chances.
“It’s an evolution in the mentality for those guys who haven’t had that feeling of being champions. Now they are in a different zone of the relation between the size of this club and what they feel they can achieve.
“After the last few seasons there’s a gap and an empty space and step by step I have to fill that space with