Former Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has claimed Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp were afforded more luxuries than him in the Premier League.
The Portuguese highlighted the support Guardiola and Klopp have received in the transfer market since taking over at Manchester City and Liverpool respectively.
Mourinho appeared to struggle to secure his intended transfer targets in the summer at Old Trafford, but Guardiola and Klopp have not had that problem.
“For me it is more complicated as a manager as I don’t focus on the football itself, I have to focus also in what is to prepare the future,” Mourinho said during his punditry stint on beIN Sports.
“I think the future starts to be prepared with principles. That is more important than the football you watch and comment on. It is more important the culture you bring to the club, the principles, so it is a bit more complex.
“But you have the case of Manchester City. In the first season, Guardiola was not a champion, it was really difficult and people were expecting a winning Manchester City.
“They were coming already from winning period, champions with (Roberto) Mancini and (Manuel) Pellegrini.”
(Guardiola was appointed in the summer of 2016, after a season in which City’s “winning period” saw them finish fourth, level on points with Manchester United, who themselves changed managers at the same time.)
“Some of the players were already champions twice, (Sergio) Aguero and (Vincent) Kompany, and in the first to the second season Pep made great decisions, but great decisions that were supported.”
(David de Gea, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Ashley Young, Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney were all Premier League champions at least once, and were players Mourinho inherited.)
“For example, he didn’t want (Pablo) Zabaleta or (Bacary) Sagna, two right-backs, and he didn’t want (Aleksander) Kolarov or (Gael) Clichy. In the same summer he sold four full-backs and got four full-backs. He got (Kyle) Walker, Danilo, (Benjamin) Mendy and another. He was supported.”
(Guardiola signed Walker, Danilo and Mendy in the same summer (2017) that City sold Zabaleta, Sagna, Kolarov and Clichy. Oleksandr Zinchenko, the fourth full-back, joined in 2016. And it seems a little churlish to say Guardiola was supported because City sold four 30-something full-backs in one transfer window.)
“In Liverpool, I think how many players were in Liverpool before Jurgen arrived? No Alisson (Becker), no (Virgil) Van Dijk, no (Andrew) Robertson, no (Mohamed) Salah, no (Roberto) Firmino, no (Sadio) Mane, no Fabinho, no (Georginio) Wijnaldum, no (Naby) Keita, so this is work in depth.”
(Eric Bailly, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, former most expensive player in the world Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Victor Lindelof, most expensive Premier League striker ever Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic, Alexis Sanchez, Diogo Dalot, Fred and Lee Grant weren’t at Manchester United before Mourinho arrived. They’re called ‘transfers’.)
“So when I speak about leadership related to the structure of the club, it is not just leadership, it is everything, even the football ideas.
“If you are manager (and) you have in your hands the possibility to choose the players you want to follow your football idea, or to follow the idea that you think is the best to win a certain competition, that is one thing. Another thing is if you are (not) able to do this.”
You could have signed “absolutely incredible” Andy Robertson for £8m if you wanted him. But you were too busy fluttering your eyelashes at Ivan Perisic, chief.