Jose Mourinho says Manchester United's transfer
dealing are "75 percent done," with only the
signing of a midfielder left on his initial to-do list.
Speaking in Shanghai after United lost their first
game in the International Champions Cup 4-1 to
Borussia Dortmund, the United boss said his
plans have not changed since he took over the
club.
"I said at the first press conference at Old Trafford,
our market has a fundamental part. And that
fundamental part is four players: one central
defender, one midfielder, one striker, and one
creative player," Mourinho said.
"And when we finish that fundamental market we
are balanced. Maybe today you don't feel it but no
[Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, no [Marouane] Fellaini, no
[Anthony] Martial, no [Morga] Schneiderlin. So
lots of them who are not here yet."
Mourinho has already signed a striker in
Ibrahimovic as well as a centre-back in Eric Bailly
and a "creative player" in Henrikh Mkhitaryan,
leaving just the midfielder as the piece of the
puzzle still missing.
United have acknowledged reports of their pursuit
of Paul Pogba, but while Mourinho did not
mention the Juventus player by name, he said
there was still time to land a quality player.
"Then, the market will be open until the 31st of
August, and sometimes things happen that you
are not expecting, and we have to react,"
Mourinho said.
"But our fundamental market is 75 percent done.
And when we sign one midfield player that crucial
work will be done."
As for the defeat to Dortmund, Mourinho said it
was abundantly clear that the German club were
much farther along in their summer training than
United.
"I know that in preseason the team that is in
advanced stage of the preparation looks better
than the other team," Mourinho said. "It happens
year after year, some good teams to lose in big
results, but I think it was too obvious. It was too
obvious.
"If we don't know, after 10 minutes we know that
one team started training 10 days ago and played
one match and one team started one month ago
and played already four. So easy to see that --
the difference in intensity and sharpness. So for
us it was very difficult.
"I think in the second half [Dortmund] more
adapted to the game. I think 3-2 would be more
natural than 4-1, but I think they showed a good
quality they have individually and collectively and
they showed they are in a much [more] advanced
stage than our preparation."
United's next friendly is in Beijing against
Manchester City, who then travel onto Shenzhen
to face Dortmund -- a match Tuchel's side
approach in fine fettle.
"I am very happy about the result," Borussia
coach Tuchel said. "It is only preseason so
there's a long way to go and lots to achieve in the
future.
"We only arrived in Shanghai yesterday. Hopefully
we will continue to play very well."
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Chapisha Maoni