Jose Mourinho, you may have noticed, is particularly miserable this summer.
The Manchester United manager has made it known on at least a couple of occasions that his team’s preparations for the new season have been far from ideal.
With several of United’s senior players reaching the last four of the World Cup, the club took a threadbare squad with them on their preseason tour of the United States. This, along with Ed Woodward’s failure to bring in some of Mourinho’s top transfer targets, has left the former Chelsea manager very obviously frustrated.
United lost 4-1 to Liverpool in their final game in the States on Saturday night. Speaking after the game in Michigan, Mourinho confirmed more bad news for United: Nemanja Matic will miss the start of the season through injury.
The Serbian only recently joined up with the United squad after playing for his country in Russia, where Mourinho has revealed he picked up the injury. The problem failed to clear up during a holiday, so much so that he’s now undergone surgery. Mourinho said:
“Matic came from the World Cup with an injury and the time he had to rest on holiday was not enough to resolve the problem.
“He went to Philadelphia for a top specialist and he didn’t leave the clinic. He immediately had surgery.”
Matic has since returned to Manchester to continue his rehabilitation. He will almost certainly miss United’s Premier League opener against Leicester City on August 10.
Although a clear blow for United, Matic’s absence could at least spell good news for Andreas Pereira. The Belgian-born Brazilian has spent the last two seasons on loan in La Liga – first with Granada, then with Valencia – but his performances for United in America have caught the eye of many of the club’s supporters.
He was responsible for United’s only goal against Liverpool on Saturday, guiding a sweetly struck free-kick into the top corner to equalise before half-time.
