Man United in positive mood as preseason starts in China this weekend

SHANGHAI, China -- Jose Mourinho walks between his players in the Shanghai heat. He swings a whistle between his hands and smiles as his players curse and argue in two adjacent games of foot tennis. With temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) and weather warnings about the heat and humidity, the area is enduring its hottest spell of the year ahead of Friday's friendly match between Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund.

Not that the players seem concerned on the pitch of the giant Shanghai Stadium.

"No chance," shouts Ashley Young, one of the team's jokers, as he disputes a decision made by one of Mourinho's assistants. The players are enjoying themselves, most speaking in the accented English that hints to their backgrounds in Spain, Armenia or South America. Some, like new signing Eric Bailly, speak no English at all. His friends for the minute are United's Spanish speakers (Bailly spent five years in Spain before making the move to Old Trafford), but sometimes words aren't needed to dispute decisions; mutiny is in the air when the score is wrongly called by a hapless fitness coach. Mourinho laughs and blows his whistle to call time.

"Nooo!" scream one of the losing teams collectively. "More minutes!" When Mourinho refuses, there are accusations of bias and fixes while a victorious team hug and jump around singing something that vaguely resembles La Marseillaise.

If there is no respite from the heat, at least the stoppage gave Phil Jones a break from the sustained jokes about his new dyed blond haircut -- Jones has been told by his teammates that he looks like he's in a boy band. There have been other, rather more unflattering comparisons, with captain Wayne Rooney the chief tormentor. The players have plenty of time on tour together to take the mickey out of each other. Jones takes it in good grace -- he's just happy to be fit and in contention for a team place after too many injuries.

The mood is positive. It's not lost on two of the Glazer brothers, the club's owners, as they watch on in black baseball caps close to the 1,500 fans who have also showed up at the 80,000-capacity stadium. Some are wearing the club's new red home shirt before it's even on sale. They're counterfeit, of course, and at the equivalent of £9 from a stall between the excellent subway and the stadium, they're much cheaper than the official replica shirts. Most of the fans present are local, although around 100 have travelled from England, and more ex-pat United fans made a shorter trip to China from Australia and Thailand.

United arrived in the city of 24 million on Wednesday ahead of games against Dortmund in Shanghai and Manchester City in Beijing, although flooding and predicted thunderstorms in the Chinese capital mean Monday's game is under threat.

The 20-time English champions ventured east on a club sponsored Aeroflot jet, where Mourinho gave up his business class seat and sat in economy so that one of his players was more comfortable. His personal charm is always amplified in these honeymoon periods at a new club.

The travelling party of 100 included officials, coaches and employees from the club media and marketing departments as United glad-hand their many sponsors and make another commercial push into the world's most populous country. After stringent passport checks, the players left the airport on a coach bearing their faces, passing billboards doing the same.

Their first appointment was a commercial one for the launch of a new Chevrolet car before players (including Rooney) conducted a stilted Q&A as part of a partnership with an oil company. There's no business sector United haven't approached to become a partner, no area of the globe untouched.

On Wednesday, United's players trained for 90 minutes in the heat. They smiled despite the conditions, something they'd stopped doing under previous manager Louis van Gaal. It's easy to get carried away since there was a similar enthusiasm when Van Gaal took charge two years ago, but there's a genuine buzz among this squad as they aim to impress their new boss. After Saturday's win at Wigan, they'll get a second chance against a Dortmund side who are further into their preseason preparations. The stadium is expected to be overwhelmingly red in colour.

Before training in the Shanghai Stadium on Thursday, Mourinho met the press for the second time in the day. He had previously met members of the English press for 16 minutes; now he faced 100 mainly Chinese journalists and television cameras.

Mourinho was invariably asked about Paul Pogba, with whom United have been linked throughout the offseason. United's executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, will join up with the travelling party on Sunday in Beijing, but has stayed in Europe ostensibly to try and complete the signing of the French international. United are understood to have offered a second bid of £92 million after an initial one of £86 million was rejected by Juventus.

On Pogba, Mourinho said: "I don't confirm and I don't deny. I cannot tell. First of all because I don't think it's correct to speak about players from other clubs. He's a Juventus player, not a Manchester United player.

"The only thing I can say is that my board and my directors did a fantastic job to do 75 percent of the job I asked them to do. I asked them for four profiles of players, I gave them a few options and they did for me 75 percent of the job and we just have 25 percent to do before August 31.

"I am really confident Mr Woodward will get the profile of player we need to get a good balance."

Mourinho was also asked about the appointment of new England manager Sam Allardyce. "It is your country and I think you have a complicated country for the person who gets the job," Mourinho said.

"But I think [Allardyce] is the right person for that. He needs support and you can do better in that respect. Sam never had the big chance at the highest level -- some big jobs, but never the big one. Now he has the big one and he is more than ready."

"It is your time," added Mourinho. "In Portugal we were waiting and waiting and finally we got it. 1966 was a long time ago, so good luck Big Sam. But he is a good motivator, can create a good spirit among his players and I wish the best. As a friend and United manager, I will try to support in the best way. I will prepare his players for him and always try to have English players ready for him."

But first, Mourinho must prepare his United players for they have many judges, even in preseason.

Andy Mitten is a freelance writer and the founder and editor of United We Stand. Follow him on Twitter @AndyMitten.