‘Cash is a sacred cow here’
home clash with Everton today, by comparing a conversation he had with Juve chairman Andrea Agnelli on Tuesday, when the Italian champions claimed a 1-0 Champions League victory, to Woodward’s failure to deliver his top transfer targets in the summer.
United are searching for a director of football to conduct their transfer business, but Mourinho said: “I am not going to discuss with you the way that Manchester United should be organised.
“One thing is to compliment Juventus, but it’s another to give my opinion on how Manchester United should or shouldn’t be organised at that level.
“But for me, the biggest compliment to Juventus is not even about their structure.
“My compliment is about the philosophy and the basic things behind the philosophy.
“In the tunnel, before the game, I was speaking with Mr Agnelli and I was telling him, ‘since I left Inter, you have seven titles in a row and it looks like the eighth is coming’.
“And he told me, ‘I don’t want the eighth. I want 10 in a row’. I think that’s a fantastic answer and a fantastic statement.
“They have won seven in a row, but they bought Cristiano Ronaldo and Leonardo Bonucci and Emre Can and Joao Cancelo.”
United have not won the title since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, but Mourinho guided them to second place last season and he was looking for his club to back him heavily with transfer cash in the summer in a bid to overhaul City.
But they went into this weekend in 10th – and Mourinho hinted that football is second to money at Old Trafford.
He added: “To be honest, I don’t know the structure of how Juventus is run, but I like the philosophy behind their work.”