Jose Mourinho has hit the headlines once again today, with numerous reports emerging that he had thrown a number of his young players under the bus.
The quotes were said to have emerged from an interview with American Spanish-speaking tv station Univision, and it was reported that Mourinho had heavily criticised young members of his squad including Anthony Martial and Luke Shaw. But what did he actually say?
Some of the headlines accused Mourinho of delivering a 'scathing' or 'stunning personal' attack on his players, but it all seems like a case of something being lost in translation.
The Manchester Evening News took the time to accurately translate the quotes from the month-old Mourinho interview, and what was actually said was not that harsh at all. In fact, it made quite a bit of sense.
The Portuguese manager was speaking about the subject of maturity in young players in the game today, and he was of the opinion that they do not quite have the levels of players in the past. He feels this is due to the environment they have been raised in.
I wasn’t a player, obviously, but when I say maturity I mean on a personal level. We were more like men. We were more mature. We were more prepared for life. Let’s say it like that. We were less protected.
In English they call it ‘spoilt’, ‘spoilt kids’. Our kids are more spoilt than we were by our parents. We are more mature, we are better prepared. For young people now, it’s a different life on a social level compared to ours.
It was also reported that Mourinho had criticised Luke Shaw, saying that he had potential but lacked focus and drive. Again this was not the case.
He simply said that when Shaw first arrived at Old Trafford, he lacked the knowledge on how to compete at the highest level.
People are maturing more slowly. For example, the young lad Luke Shaw, who is the left-back of the national team, who arrived there [at United] two years before me. He didn’t know how to compete. He had great potential, yes, but he didn’t know how to compete.
There is no personal attack to be found here, and what Mourinho says actually has a lot of merit to it.
Well done to the Manchester Evening News for taking the time to delve further into the story.
