Football
ESPN staff 8y

Jose Mourinho's prepared statement at Man Utd news conference

Jose Mourinho's first news conference at Manchester United didn't get going until someone asked him about his record of bringing through youth players.

Here's how it played out.

"How many minutes do we have left ... I have not time to answer it. It would take 10 minutes to answer it. I knew this question was coming.

"Do you want to know how many players I have promoted from academies? Forty nine. Do you want me to list them out? I promoted 49 from the academies at clubs and two factors that are important for these records.

"Sometimes you have no other choice but to promote them because you have injured. That is one factor. The second is when you are not playing for big targets it is easier to bring them up, outside the pressure of the big moments. My record with injuries is very low -- even from the Uefa studies, there were many times the team with the least injuries in the whole of Europe was mine.

"Last year the only season of my only career that I was not fighting for the title - every other season I was winning or finishing second, or finish third once but still fighting for the title.

"I still did 49 and some of them we are speaking about big names - players that today are Champions League winners, playing for national teams. Forty nine is a lot. Once more -- it's one lie repeated many times. Sometimes it looks like it might be true but it is always true. Many of you... the names. If you want them, I'll give them to you..."

Phew. We look forward to the next news conference!

^ Back to Top ^