Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho has claimed that he won everything he could as Manchester United manager ahead of his side's trip to Old Trafford on Sunday, while he has once again stressed that although he may not keep every player in his camp happy, squad depth will be vital.
During Mourinho's two-and-a-half-year spell as Red Devils boss, he led the club to Europa League and Carabao Cup glory. He also managed to secure a second-placed finish in the Premier League in 2017/18.
Speaking ahead of his Sunday's clash at Old Trafford, Mourinho has claimed that he won what was possible - but failed to achieve the impossible at Man Utd. While he was eventually sacked, he was given a warm welcome back by the United fans on his return to the club.
"The fans, they know that I gave everything that I could," Mourinho said ahead of Sunday's game, as quoted by The Mirror. "I won what was possible to win, I didn’t win what was not possible to win. I gave everything, I gave my life to the club and my professionalism, like I always do.
“Internally, lots of friends for life, lots of amazing people that I met in the club. I only have good feelings, feelings that I will have to forget in 90 minutes because for 90 minutes, they want to win, I want to win, that’s football.”
The Portuguese further discussed the size of his squad and admitted that there could well be a few departures before the close of the transfer window on Monday. Dele Alli has been linked with a move away after seeing his opportunities limited, while Juan Foyth is expected to depart.
Although Mourinho acknowledges that he will likely not be able to keep every player happy this term, squad depth will be crucial. He continued: “The transfer window in two directions and it’s possible that we could let a couple of players to leave, it’s possible we could let a couple of young players to go and experience playing.
"For sure, we are not going to keep every player in the squad over normal numbers. I like to work normally with a squad of 22 players plus the keepers and we are not going to be far from that number.
“But my job is not to keep them happy. My job is to do the best for the club and to get the best possible results....We are a big club, we want to be bigger, we want to play in all the competitions, we have six matches in Europa League Group phase playing on a Thursday and we are for sure to get lots of matches at Sunday at 12 o’clock or Sunday 3pm.
“It’s going to be very, very hard so it’s impossible to do it with all the same players and to have a good squad with good numbers is what all the top clubs have.”
Mourinho had called on England boss Gareth Southgate to protect his players while away on international duty, but Southgate has since hit back over his remarks.
Source : 90min