Interviewer: Jose, how d’you feel? You’ve got your man, you’ve got another one in here.
Jose: I think the club was fantastic, and I couldn’t be happier with the way we did our market because we got our players that we really believe, and we thought about the profile, the tactical profile, the physical profile, the personality, and to get them all before the start of the Premier League… When the transfer window closes, only on that, at the end of the month, it’s almost normal, becomes almost a tradition – that people delays and delays and delays. We did it before the 14th of August, which I think is a tremendous work by my board.
Interviewer: And you’ve clearly got in Paul Pogba a player who is incredibly talented, but also very hungry to succeed, and very pleased to be back here.
Jose: You know, I can feel immediately when I speak with him for the first time. I am feeling now when I am seeing him at the training ground with people that he knows since he was a kid – doesn’t look like a star. It looks like a kid that is back to his old school, and is finding people that he cares about, and people that love him a lot. So, I believe that after a couple of days, he will feel like he never left the club. So, I think adaptation level, he’s not a new player – he’s just a kid back home again.
Interviewer: And what are his best qualities? What do you most like about Paul as a player?
Jose: I like everything. I know the discussion, I understand the discussion. I understand that sometimes in football, these things happen and the club breaks the record. But, this is only possible in clubs like Man United. When I heard some of the comments and when I heard some managers criticizing that, I don’t think they will ever have this problem – because to have this problem, you need to be in one of the top clubs in the world. So, at Man United, it can happen. But, very young player. An unbelievable midfield player with such physicality but at the same time, such agility, coordination, skill. He has everything. I think what he has to learn now is how to play with us. Because I always say that in football, you can be super player – like he is – but a team is a team, and you need to learn how to play with the team, and the team needs to learn how to play with you. And we need to get the best out of him, and this will be a process. So, if he needs protection, I’m here to protect. I know that some people think he arrives now – and, first time he touches the ball, he scores (laughs), but I’m here to protect him and give him the best conditions for him to be what we think he is going to be – a super player for Man United, a reference for this club, and I am so happy with that.
Interviewer: And you picked out four players, four profiles, as you said at the start of pre-season. You’ve got four players in now. Are you happy with your options here at United now in the squad?
Jose: I’m really happy. It’s the first time I’m working with such a number of players. Because I used to work with 20 plus the keepers. And, we have in the squad 23 plus the keepers. And even so, we had to make decisions and let some players go on loan and try to sell others. But this group of 23 is a great group, I think, in this moment. And I told them that this is a moment of a little bit of frustration for the ones that are not selected. They work hard to be, and the match arrives, and they aren’t. And this is going to happen for the next 2-3 weeks because we have just one Premier League match. But September – starts Capital Cup, starts Europa League, starts playing three matches a week – and then everybody is involved, the squad is good. The empathy between the guys is good too, so I’m really happy with the squad, I feel.