Jose Mourinho has said he understands the frustration of Manchester United’s fringe players but has told them things will be different when the cup competitions begin.
United start their campaigns in both the Capital One Cup and the Europa League in September, giving manager Mourinho the chance to use more of his players.
He told MUTV: “I’m really happy [with my squad]. It’s the first time I’ve worked with such a number of players because I’m used to working with 20 plus the keepers.
“We have, in the squad, 23 plus the keepers — and even so we had to make decisions and let some players go on loan, and try to sell others.
“But this group of 23 is a great group and I think in this moment — and I told them this — there is a little bit of frustration for the ones that I have not selected.
“They work hard to be in the match and they aren’t, and this is going to happen because we have just one Premier League match.
“But in September the Capital One Cup starts, the Europa League starts, we start playing three matches a week and then everybody is involved and the squad is good.”
Mourinho, who dedicated the Community Shield win over Leicester to those left out of the matchday squad, said he was pleased the club had delivered the signings he was targeting following the world record arrival of Paul Pogba from Juventus.
“I couldn’t be happier with the way we did our market because we got four players that we really believe in and we thought about the profile — the tactical profile, the physical profile, the personality,” he added.
“And we got them all before the start of the Premier League, when the transfer window only closes at the end of the month and it becomes normal, almost a tradition, that people delay and delay and delay.”
