Manchester United’s manager isn’t happy with the amount of money being spent this summer in the transfer market.
[ MORE: Mbappe to Man City? ]
He has spent $156 million on just two players, but we will leave that fact to one side, like Jose has, for the moment...
Speaking in Washington D.C. ahead of United’s final game of their U.S. tour against Barcelona on Wednesday, Mourinho defended United breaking the world transfer record to sign Paul Pogba last summer and then spending a total which could rise to $117 million on Romelu Lukaku this summer.
“Every club is getting good players, every club is investing a lot and some clubs are paying too much and by paying too much they create a very strange and out of control market,” Mourinho told the BBC. “But this is the reality now. I always thought the problem is not what you pay for these kind of (top) players, I don’t think the problem is what you pay for Pogba, I don’t think the problem is going to pay crazy for Neymar.
“I think the problem is with the other group which is a big group because players like Pogba, there is one or two (big) transfers (like that) per transfer window. The other ones are where you have 100 transfers and for me that is the dangerous area of the market. Some clubs are paying or they don’t buy because they don’t accept the numbers that are now ruling the market, or to do it they have to go the same levels and for me that’s what worries me a little bit because now we speak about £30million, £40million, £50million in such an easy way.”
Has he got a point?
The elite players will always demand the biggest fees with the likes of Messi, Pogba, Lukaku, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez rightly demanding huge sums given their output of goals and assists. Yet when defensive players are being bought for over $65 million, e.g. Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy at Manchester City, that’s when eyebrows being to raise.
Of course, Mourinho is throwing stones from inside a glass house because United have been big spenders for quite some time and although they aren’t shelling out the sums Manchester City could for Kylian Mbappe this summer and what Chelsea have over the last 15 years in their dramatic rebuild under Roman Abramovich, they have still spent almost $900 million in transfer fees alone over the past four seasons.
Mourinho has spent over $341 million on new players since arriving last summer...
Yes, he has got a point that good to very good players are now costing more than world-class players did five years ago, but the main debate here is whether or not these fees are sustainable. The answer is, probably not, and Mourinho wants to let United’s fans know he won’t pay over the odds as he intimates crosstown rivals Man City are...
The mind games never end with Jose.