José Mourinho returns to Old Trafford as Chelsea manager for the first time in six years, but for once his old friend and enemy Sir Alex Ferguson is not be in the home dugout. It is nearly a decade since the Portuguese ran down the Old Trafford touchline in celebration of Porto’s controversial Champions League victory in 2004; a moment that seemingly encapsulates the manager’s career. At once brilliant, infuriating, deceitful, and utterly conceited.
And permeating through the game remains Chelsea’s aggressive pursuit of Wayne Rooney this summer. Player and west London club have all but agreed the move south. United remain firm that the striker will not be allowed to move to a major rival for the Premier League.
Indeed, while Mourinho insists that no bid will be lodged before kick-off on Monday, it is no coincidence that every major media outlet carried the story that Chelsea will offer up to £40 million for Rooney on Tuesday.
It only takes “an email” to place a bid said Mourinho on Friday. It is unlikely to be sent given United’s stance, with Mourinho keen it seems to get inside the player’s head. The ongoing saga can do little but unsettle a player who has long since moved on – mentally at least – from his nine years in Manchester.
Still, while Chelsea have been left in little doubt that Rooney is not for sale by Ed Woodward’s “terse warning” this week, Mourinho claimed on Friday that the prospective move to the London club would benefit English football in the round.
“That old-fashioned mentality of ‘I don’t sell players to the same country’ doesn’t help the market,” said Mourinho.
“You see in Italy, it happens every season without any problem. The player wants to move from Milan to Inter, from Inter to Milan, from Roma to Juventus, from Juventus to Inter, and they do this all the time.
“Sometimes you push players abroad when you should be interested in keeping them in your league, because you are contributing to make your league the best. So when you want to sell and you are pushing the players abroad I think you are giving the wrong contribution to the league.”
Mourinho said little of the prospective transfer’s affect on world peace, but it is probably only a matter of time.
Disrupting United’s start to the season is part of Mourinho’s design, of course, despite the Portuguese’s disingenuous claims to the contrary on Friday. And whether ill-conceived logic, or a tactical double bluff, David Moyes insists that Rooney could start against his prospective employers, although it is more likely the player’s frame-of-mind is far from sound for a match of such importance early in the season.
Yet, the focus is not solely on Mourinho and Rooney for Monday’s fixture. After all, Moyes will take charge of his first competitive fixture at Old Trafford. It is set to be a special day for the 50-year-old Scot who has endured a tough couple of months as Sir Alex’s successor.
“There has been a lot of things I have been looking forward to – like taking the team on tour and leading them out at Wembley. But to do it at Old Trafford for the first game against Chelsea is a thrill for me, it really is,” the Scot said Friday.
“It would have been, no matter who we were playing. It is just part of my job though and once you do it, you get on and do your job. It is a great honour to be manager of Manchester United. I don’t know anybody who wouldn’t want to be in this position.”
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