Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho was hardly in the best of moods when his team were preparing to leave for the United States on this summer’s pre-season tour. The Portuguese was already missing the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Jesse Lingard, Paul Pogba and Marouane Fellaini due to their involvement in the semi finals of the World Cup, and Alexis Sanchez added to his woes by missing the initial part of the tour due to a previous tax evasion charge that denied him a visa. To make matters worse, Anthony Martial left the squad last week to be present for the birth of his second child, and Mourinho seems less-than happy that the Frenchman has yet to return to the club.
It doesn’t stop there; Antonio Valencia was criticised for coming back to the club in an unfit state, with the Ecuadorian and club captain how out of the club’s opening game of the season against Leicester City on August 10th, and Chris Smalling, Eric Bailly and Luke Shaw have also suffered knocks that have hampered their involvement in this summer’s tour games.
Nemanja Matic is another who is set to miss the start of the season due to injury, with the Serbian international already back in Manchester recovering from surgery after sustaining a problem whilst playing for his country in Russia this summer.
“Matic arrived from the World Cup, holiday, direct to surgery because something happened in the World Cup,” said Mourinho via Manutd.com. “He has had surgery. He is out for the start of the season. He came from the World Cup with the injury and the time he had to rest on holiday was not enough to resolve the problem. I don’t know how long he will be out for.”
It’s further bad news at a time where Mourinho really didn’t need any further issues; here’s hoping that Matic has a speedy recovery.
