Ahead of the first ever Manchester Derby being held outside Europe, albeit in preseason friendly form, Manchester United Manager Jose Mourinho held a news conference in Houston. As expected, Chelsea’s acquisition of Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata, a long time United target, came up.
“I’m not interested in what Chelsea FC does, really,” Mourinho said at the press conference on Wednesday.
“We needed a striker, so yes, we needed with Zlatan in his best conditions, we needed one to give cover, give options, him and Marcus (Rashford) was not enough, especially after the injury.”
“We got a big player, a player that I can not compare with what he was a few years ago, because he worked with me for a few months and his development was very good. We have a player (recently acquired from Everton striker Romelu Lukaku) who is now a top player. You have to prove it at the highest level, he has to do it for United, in Champions League matches but he has amazing qualities.
“Chelsea, it was obvious they were going to sign a striker after the situation with the manager and Diego (Costa).”
Just a few days ago, Mourinho extolled the virtues of Morata, and publicly opened up about how and why United’s pursuit of the forward never came to fruition. The Portugese’ comments four days ago even seemed to potentially keep the door open to a Morata acquisition some day. With United unwilling to reach Real’s asking price, Old Trafford then turned their attention to Lukaku, who also happened to be Chelsea’s number one summer transfer window target.
Given how it all played out, Lukaku and Morata will be compared and contrasted against one another very often this upcoming season. Much will be written and said about who got the better deal, United or Chelsea. This week Mourinho also expressed his dismay with how United’s summer transfer window has gone. He said he was resigned to the fact that he will have to settle for only one more acquisition, not two before the deadline closes.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV.
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