Jose Mourinho has described reports of dressing-room unrest at Manchester United as “lies” and says he’s determined to enjoy the 2018/19 campaign.
The Portuguese coach has cut a frustrated figure for much of pre-season due to a lack of activity on the transfer front, Diogo Dalot, Fred and Lee Grant ending up as the only new arrivals at Old Trafford before Thursday’s deadline.
The Red Devils were strongly linked with a new centre-half but talk of moves for Diego Godin, Harry Maguire, Toby Alderweireld, Jerome Boateng and Yerry Mina failed to materialise.
Mourinho admits he was disappointed the club failed to bring in any of his defensive targets but has blasted reports of their being problems behind the scenes at United.
The former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss insists he still gets on well with club officials and his players, believing the current squad is good enough to challenge for honours.
“One lie repeated 1,000 times is still a lie, but the perception of the people is that it’s true but it’s still a lie,” said Mourinho.
“So, when you repeat 1,000 times that my relationship with my players is not good, it’s a lie that repeated 1,000 times is still a lie.”
“But again, the perception of the people that read can be different, but I like my players and my group. I enjoy the last season, the fight to finish where we finished and to manage the best position in five or six years.”
United begin their Premier League campaign on Friday night with the visit of Leicester City and Mourinho says he has yet to make a decision on which of his World Cup stars will be involved.
The likes of Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku could be pressed into action, despite only returning to training on Monday, with Antonio Valencia, Marcos Rojo, Diogo Dalot, Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic all missing for the curtain-raiser.
