Mourinho: I regret the little negative episodes – and he also probably does
Jose Mourinho has admitted he harbours regrets about his past treatment of Arsene Wenger as he urged Manchester United supporters to give the outgoing Arsenal manager a warm reception at Old Trafford tomorrow.
Mourinho, who maintained last night that United would not sell goalkeeper David de Gea to Real Madrid this summer, and Wenger have endured one of the stormiest relationships of any rival Premier League managers.
The United manager described Wenger as “a specialist in failure” during his second spell in charge of Chelsea. Mourinho also branded Wenger a “voyeur” after accusing the Frenchman of being obsessed with Chelsea, to which Wenger responded by calling his counterpart “out of order, disconnected with reality and disrespectful”.
Their verbal warfare almost spilt over into a physical confrontation in 2014 when Wenger and Mourinho clashed during Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. But Mourinho has sought a belated rapprochement with Wenger and encouraged United fans, who have directed many ugly chants at him in the past owing to his fierce rivalry with former United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, to show the Arsenal manager some respect.
“When I arrive in England 2004, Arsenal was the champion and the famous Invincibles, and I arrived and for the next couple of years was with them,” he said. “[Dennis] Bergkamp, Thierry [Henry], [Sol] Campbell, amazing team, so again thank you very much for that, they pushed us [at Chelsea] to the limits, the two matches we played at their amazing old stadium [Highbury] were unforgettable.
“We had big matches, big fights, so thank you so much for that. Regret? Little negative episodes, yes I do, and probably he also does.
“I always feel the biggest rivals are our biggest friends because they’re the ones that pushed us to the limit,” he said. “I think Manchester United fans know that until 2004, for about a decade, that was between Manchester United and Arsenal, was between Sir Alex and Mr Wenger and I think that these great teams Arsenal had and the fight shoulder to shoulder with Manchester United made United better and better.
“I hope he [Wenger] has a good reaction, if not good, not bad at all, and from us as a club he is going to feel the respect we have.”
Alexis Sanchez will face Arsenal for the first time since quitting the club to join United in January. The Chile striker has endured a difficult start but he scored in United’s 2-1 FA Cup semi-final win over Spurs last weekend and Mourinho believes fans will see a greatly improved player next term. “Next season after pre-season, after being comfortable and adapted, he’s going to be great for us,” he said.
Real Madrid are again being linked with a summer move for De Gea but Mourinho said there was “no chance” of the Spain goalkeeper – who has an option to extend his contract until June 2020 – leaving Old Trafford this summer.
Meanwhile, Mourinho has insisting he deserves credit for bringing Mohamed Salah, who has scored 43 goals for Liverpool this season, to Stamford Bridge and that it was Chelsea that decided to sell the Egyptian after he was sacked.