Jose Mourinho was officially unveiled as Manchester United manager to the media on Tuesday, and revealed his feelings on a number of key issues. Here are all the quotes from his press conference… 

On how does he feel

“I don’t know, really. The other two times, I was arriving in the country, this is a different one. I was sacked by Chelsea and then I stayed in the same country, the same competition with the same faces in front of me so it is nothing new for me really it is just to arrive into a Club which is difficult to describe, to find the right words to describe this club.

“I don’t like denomination people use like dream job, it is not a dream job, it is reality as Manchester United Manager but the reality is I think it is a job everyone wants and not many have a chance to have and I have it and I know obviously the responsibility, the expectation.

“I know the legacy, the history of this club, I know what the fans expect from me and this challenge doesn’t make me nervous. I think it comes in the right moment of my career, I feel very prepared. I’m very stable and with a great motivation.”

On the Champions League

“I am where I want to me in this club, in this country, in the domestic cups, I feel a bit frustrated I am not playing the Champions League. I don’t hide I chase Sir Alex’s record in the Champions League for matches as a Manager.

“Hopefully it is only one season I am not there. When I say we obviously the club is more important than myself, Manchester United is more important than myself and we have to make sure July 2017 this club is where it has to be in the Champions League.”

On his aims for the season

“It depends on the way you want to face it. I was never very good playing with the words or hiding behind words and hiding behind philosophies. I never tried to be good at that.

“I was always much more aggressive in my approach. It would be easy and even honest and pragmatic to focus on the last three years, on the fact that we don’t qualify for Champions League and so on and so on, and ‘let’s work and try and be back to the Champions League’, try and be back to the top four, try and be back to the Europa League. I prefer to be more aggressive and say we want to win.”

On his style of play

“I can anticipate any one of you will come later with a question about style of play and a question about what is before and I can imagine one of these questions is around the corner and I can anticipate by saying you can win a short competition, a couple of matches without playing well but you cannot win competitions without playing well.

“What is playing well? Playing well is scoring more goals than the opponents, conceding less, making your fans proud because you give everything and you win. We want everything at the same time. It is an aggressive approach by myself. I want to win matches, to play well, to play young players, to score goals, to make the fans proud. I want everything. Of course, we are not going to get everything, but I want to.”

On having a ‘point to prove’

“There are some managers who haven’t won a title for 10 years. Some of them have never won a title. The last time I won a title was one year ago, not 10 years ago or 15 years ago so if I have a lot to prove, imagine the others.

“But the reality is that was never important for me. I play against myself. that is my feeling many times. I have to prove not to the others but to myself. I would never be able to work without success. I have always to find the reasons why I have always many questions towards myself and the people working with me. That is my nature. I could approach this job in a defensive point of view by saying ‘the last three years the best we did was fourth and the FA Cup’. I can’t go. It is my nature.”

On Manchester United

“I work in some big clubs before. Obviously Manchester United by the social point of view is a completely different dimension but when people have year after year a certain kind of menu, the menu has to change for better or worse. For many years for Manchester United success was routine. But the last three years are three years I want to forget. I don’t want the players to think we have to do better and finish fourth. Finish fourth is not the aim.

“This is what I do with myself. I am 53, I am not 63 or 73. Maybe you are tired with myself because I started at such a young level. I am a young manager. If I don’t go for big ??? I am in trouble. The reality is I was in trouble for the last five months. The first month was fine, the second month was not so good, after that it was a disaster.”

On transfer targets

“I think the third player is official. (press officer: “No, not yet.”). When? (press officer: “Soon.”) We made a nucleus of four priorities, four positions to give a certain balance to the squad, to give a certain push in terms of quality and the qualities I need and want. Especially the ones with more vision. I am more a manager that likes specialists and not so much the multi-functional players because I am very clear in my approach.

“But from this list we have two or three? (press officer: “Two at the moment.”) We have three. When we have the fourth, I will breathe and then the market will be open because we are not going to get the fourth on the 31st of August, we will get the fourth before then. There is something for me, that the players I keep are all happy. Imagine first match I don’t select somebody, he gets disappointed he has the chance to go to another club. If he leaves, somebody else has to come in.

“There is a fundamental market and there is a supplementary market. We are doing well. We are getting the players we want and now we have the third.”

On the challenge of facing Pep Guardiola

“I think Leicester’s legacy was not just the happiness around the country. The legacy was we are in a competition where 20 teams are fighting for the title. That is their legacy. Next season if you have another team who win the first five matches, you consider them candidates. It is over the time you say ‘they will collapse in December’. Leicester they killed it.

“I don’t like to speak about one manager, one club, one enemy, I hate the word in football and life. It is one thing to be a in a two-horse race like I was in Spain or in Italy it was three teams fighting for the title, then that kind of approach makes sense. If you focus on one opponent, the others will be laughing so I am not going to be part of it.

“I am Manchester United Manager with all the respect to all the other clubs in the country especially one that was my house for seven years. I share so many special moments with their fans. I am the manager of the biggest club in the UK. I am going to focus on our job and our club. Thanks to what Leicester did. One of their legacies is to change forever the competition.”

On his youth record

“I knew that was coming. You know how many young players I promoted to the first team from academies? 49? Forty-nine. If you want, if any one of you is interested, I can give you the list. I promoteed 49 players from the academies from the clubs and with two factors. Sometimes you promote players because you don’t have another chance because you have so many injuries. The second factor is when you are not playing for big targets, it is easier to bring them up outside the pressure of big moments.

“My record of injuries is very very low. Even in many years from the UEFA Champions League studies about every team, my teams were many times the teams with less injuries. I never promote players because of need. I did it because of conviction and decision.

“Last year was the only season my career when I was not fight for the title, so it was never a situation of stability and no pressure to promote players. I did 49 and some of them are big name. They are today Champions League winners, in the Euros playing for the national teams and 49 is a lot. So one lie repeated many times sometimes it looks true but it will always be a lie. With intention, without intention, many of you have repeated this, it is not true.”

On the departure of Ryan Giggs

“About Ryan, it is not my responsibility that Ryan is not in the club. The job Ryan wanted is the job the club decided to give me. It is not my fault. Ryan wanted to be Manchester United manager and the owners, Mr Woodward decided to give the job to me.

“Ryan wants to be a manager. From 16 years ago I decided myself I want to be a manager. For many of us, we start as assistant coaches and for many of us, arrives the moment we make a decision. So when you are speaking about did I offer him a job. He could be what he wanted in the club. The club wanted to give him any important job in the club. But he made a brave decision. It is not easy.

“It happened with myself in Barcelona in 2000, I had a contract to be assistant for another two years. Do you think it was easy for me to leave such stability? It was not easy. For Ryan it is not just the step of going from assistant to manager, it is the step of leaving his house of 29. He was brave, honest, so good luck.

“If one day he wants to come back while I am here, I will never stop him. I will always say yes if the clubs asks for my opinion. If one day the club offers him the chance to be manager, I think it will be natural and the consequence of his success in his career.”

On advice from Sir Alex Ferguson

“Yes. Bring the umbrella. Yesterday I couldn’t believe it was raining in the training ground. It was great advice. The second advice was to bring my typical bottle of wine. Now we are going to have many occasions to be together.

“At the moment Sir Alex is on a holidat at the Euros, so I can’t see him this wek, but when his holidays are finished I will be based in Manchester, he is the same, we will have lots of time to meet each other and share our personal stuff, friends, family, life.

“Obviously his opinion is important to me, the same way so many legends who love this club and some of them who are in the pundits industry and every opinion will be important to me. People that love the club and have a connection will always be respected by myself.”

On Wayne Rooney

“In football there are many jobs. There are many jobs on the field. The one that is more difficult to find is the guy who has put the ball on the net. The players change during the years their qualities, their characteristics. It is normal a player at his age change a bit but there is something that will never change which is the natural appetite to put the ball in the net.

“Maybe he is not a striker, not a No. 9 any more but for me he will never be a No. 6, playing 50 metres from the goal. You can tell me his pass is amazing but my pass is also amazing without pressure. To be there and put the ball in the net is the most difficult thing. For me he will be a 9, a 10, a nine and a half but never a 6 or an 8.”

Here is the video of the complete press conference courtesy RedDevilsLatest –

This article is written by Shantanu Ambekar, you can follow him on Twitter at @ShantanuAmbekar. What are your thoughts? Let us know by dropping a comment via our comments box below. Make sure you follow us on Twitter, Google+, Instagram and like us on Facebook.

The post Jose Mourinho Unveiled as Manchester United Manager – Full Quotes appeared first on Into The Top Corner.