Mourinho: “If they were not in my plans I would not give them one single minute”

Following the 5-2 victory over Galatasaray in Gothenburg, Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho, gave a glimpse into his decision to leave out a number of players for the friendly match, which included Adnan Januzaj and Bastian Schweinsteiger. United hit five past the Turkish club, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring a bicycle kick within four minutes of making his debut for the club. Wayne Rooney (X2), Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata made up the list of scorers – with United overturning a 2-1 first half deficit.

With all the talk surrounding Paul Pogba’s proposed transfer from Juventus, the United manager was more focused on the importance of Manchester United, rather than individual players.

Mourinho, speaking to MUTV, explained that if a player was not his plans for the future – he simply would not play:

“If they were not in my plans I would not give them one single minute, I would not keep them in my squad.”

This could well be bad news for the likes of Schweinsteiger and Januzaj, who were both left out of the match day squad. Schweinsteiger, who retired from International football in the week – having won the World Cup in 2014, has had an injury hit debut season and it appears as if his United dream is over within twelve months. Januzaj was excellent in the 2013/14 season under David Moyes, but has been well below par in the previous two campaigns and could well be on his way out under the new manager.

Mourinho gave some additional insight on the importance of the club over any player:

“So to be in the squad you have to understand that the squad is more important than the individual, the club is more important than all of us, and to be in the squad you have to be ready for this, to play, not to play, play a lot, play less, play 90 minutes, play one minute, not be selected, everything is part of a squad life.

And if you want to be in a club like we are, the club is much more important than us.”

Manchester United’s next fixture is on August 3rd against Everton, in what will be Wayne Rooney’s testimonial.

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