José Mourinho hits out at ‘unethical’ Klopp and Wenger

José Mourinho has branded rival Premier League managers unethical for discussing Manchester United's transfer business and confirmed he expects to finally sign Paul Pogba before the Premier League opener at Bournemouth.

Pogba is poised to rejoin United from Juventus for a world record transfer fee in excess of £100m in the coming days, Mourinho hopes. The proposed deal has been greeted with incredulity by Arsène Wenger, who described the sum as “completely crazy”, while Jürgen Klopp said he would prefer not to work in a game where £100m transfers become the norm.

The comments about United’s pursuit of the France international have not gone down well with Mourinho, who claims he would have been widely criticised had the roles been reversed. “I only speak about us,” the United manager said when asked to assess this summer’s Premier League transfers.

“I heard two of my colleagues from other clubs already speaking about us. I do not like that. It is not ethical. There are things that when I do are not ethical and when others do it everything is normal and nobody says that. I do not speak about the others. They can do what they want.

"Our market was good. We made decisions and decided to bring four players, not 10, that are Manchester United level. Four that we think can really improve the squad and not just be one more. This is the profile of our market. A young defender that needs time to be a top one but who has top potential [Eric Bailly]. A creative player that we know the quality [Henrikh Mkhitaryan], a super striker [Zlatan Ibrahimovic], and we are going to get a very good midfield player [Pogba]. We try for balance. I am happy with my squad. I am happy with the effort of the club. The others, it is their problem."

Mourinho, speaking ahead of Sunday’s Community Shield against the champions Leicester City, admitted he expects a resolution to the Pogba transfer saga before United’s first league game next Sunday. Asked whether a big signing was imminent, he replied: “Yes. We have 22 [outfield players] and we are going to have 23. I don’t like to speak about other clubs or players from other clubs. Other managers like to do that, they like to speak about my club and my players. I am very pragmatic on this.

“All that matters is what happens in my house and not in my neighbours’ house. Paul Pogba is a Juventus player until he isn’t, officially, so we stay like this. The market closes on August 31st but I think my club is trying to do everything to close our market before the 14th. Normally, next week, we will have our squad closed.”

The United manager explained he had increased the number of outfield players in his first-team squad from 20 to 23 due to Europa League commitments. Yet there is still no place for the World Cup winner Bastian Schweinsteiger, who has been ostracised by Mourinho, much to the chagrin of the midfielder's former employers at Bayern Munich.

Mourinho said Schweinsteiger’s predicament was: “The same as in every club in the world. The manager decides his squad and chooses a certain number of players to face the season. That is it. I normally like to work with 20 players plus the three goalkeepers, which is what I have done for 15 years, because we have so many players but at the same time we have so many competitions and especially the Europa League. I made the decision to be with 23 plus three goalkeepers, which is still a lot. I had to make my decisions. It is simple.”

(Guardian service)