Jose Mourinho Brands Strange Preseason after San Jose Stalemate
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has bizarrely admitted his side "need to get used to" likely captain for the new season Antonio Valencia getting injured, after the Ecuadorian limped out of the club's 0-0 draw with San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday.
Valencia limped out of the game in the US after a mere seven minutes, causing concern ahead of the new campaign, but according to Manchester Evening News he is expected to return for the next pre-season clash with AC Milan - which takes place on Thursday.
The injury does come as something of a concern as United is already without new signing Diogo Dalot - who is expected to be the club's long-term answer at right back down the line - until September. But Mourinho bizarrely threw his player under the bus and admitted he expected Valencia would be injured frequently moving forward.
"He’s injured," Mourinho told MUTV. "We need to get used to it. Last season he was already in this kind of situation and probably this season we’re going to have more of that."
He also hinted that the likes of Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku would not start the new season against Leicester because of their exploits at the World Cup, while he spoke of the mix between first team players and youth players in his XI as "strange" as he prepares for his third full season at Old Trafford.
Mourinho added: "For me it is a very strange pre-season. How many of these players are going to play the majority of the games in the Premier League? Not one hand of them. It's a bit strange for me."
"Pre-season, you try to be motivated and motivate the people around you - but it is not easy. I did some pre-season with some players, but to have 10 players away is very strange so the motivation is to try to train the best we can, to give the players minutes, to give young players an opportunity to develop and that's it."
Alexis Sanchez did though make his return to action, and looked as sharp as anyone on the pitch as he played 65 minutes.
"He was okay," added Mourinho. "You work individually with I'd say a personal trainer, which is not the case because he's a member of our staff, we left one guy behind to work with him.
"We knew from the physical point of view he would be okay. Match fitness then is a different thing - but we knew he could be good and it was a good physical effort for him, a bit more than an hour, which was good."
United came closest to winning the game after Eric Bailly hit the bar in the fourth minute, but could not find a way through otherwise.
