Jose Mourinho has said that Manchester United failed to evolve under his predecessors David Moyes and Louis van Gaal, describing their tenures as an “empty period” for the club.
He said: “There was an evolution in the other clubs; there was no evolution in this club. In all the areas that make a team successful I think we stopped in time.
“That was quite an empty period in the club with no evolution in areas that are important. It was the weight of the past on the shoulders of the players, managers, even boards, even probably owners, because when you are used to win and win and win, and suddenly you stop, it’s like a heavy burden.
“Today, we have better working conditions, a better medical department, a better analysis department, a better scouting department, a better media department, and in many cases we did it without changing the people, which is quite important.”
While Lukaku left Stamford Bridge for Everton early on in Mourinho’s second spell in charge at Chelsea, the Portuguese said: “Lukaku was my player as a kid.
“He left [Chelsea] because he was thinking he deserves more opportunity, but he’s such a good guy that during these years we were in close contact with a good relationship. So I knew he was an intelligent guy with a positive attitude.”
On Matic, Mourinho added: “I cannot say that I had better guys than him in my career.”
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