Jose Mourinho Responds to Backlash After Controversial 'Spoilt Kids' Comments
Manchester United manager José Mourinho has broken his silence after the backlash he received for calling four first team players 'spoilt kids' during a recent interview.
Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard all came under fire from the Portuguese head coach, who claimed that the players are lacking maturity due to surrounding themselves with the wrong people.
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"They are lacking maturity, and let me be clear when I say maturity, I mean maturity on a personal level," Mourinho told Univision.
"We had more men, we were more mature, we were more prepared for life, we were less protected. They are spoilt kids now, the kids of today have a different life, an easier environment and I’m talking about the people around the players.
"These people give them too much affection and too many excuses. People mature much more slowly now.
"We’re talking about Luke Shaw, Martial, Lingard, Rashford - young, big potential, but at the end of the day it results in the word I cannot say, but you use it a lot here...character, personality, they lack a little."
Mourinho was asked to shed some more light on the comments that he made during the interview, which was conducted by former Barcelona striker and Bulgaria legend Hristo Stoichkov, ahead of Manchester United's game against Crystal Palace.
However, he refused to get drawn into the media's answers, adding that too much of what he says is being taken out of context.
"I don’t play your game," Mourinho said, quoted by the Mirror. "I don’t play the game: ‘take out of context and do what you want’. I have nothing to say and I don’t lose my time playing that game."
All eyes will once again be on Old Trafford this weekend as fans look to see how United's so-called 'spoilt kids' respond to the recent comments.
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They are clear favourites heading into their match on Saturday, and Crystal Palace are heading into this match having lost six of their last seven matches across all competitions.
