José Mourinho’s charm offensive towards Manchester United gathered pace today when his close aide attempted to rubbish the claim that the former Chelsea manager is not interested in developing youngsters.
United held talks with Mourinho’s representatives over Christmas following the team’s dip in form, but three months on, Louis van Gaal remains in charge at Old Trafford.
The Portuguese has been filling his time by embarking on several public appearances across the globe – where he has spoken about his future – and doing an interview for GQ magazine.
There are some at United who are against appointing Mourinho because of his confrontational stance with other managers and the media, and due to his apparent disinterest in bringing through and developing young players.
The 53-year-old preferred to buy expensive imports during his time at Chelsea, but Eladio Parames, a close friend of the Portuguese, says it is a myth that he is not interested in developing young players.
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“In Portugal there is an old saying: ‘A lie repeated a thousand times is taken as a truth’,” Parames told the Daily Star. “But, as a matter of fact, it doesn’t stop being a lie, even if whoever hears or reads it may think it is true.
“This happens with José Mourinho and his alleged reluctance to play with young players. It simply is not true.
“For instance, at Real Madrid, José called 20 young players of the ‘cantera’ (youth academy) to make their debut in the first squad. And that doesn’t include the young Frenchman Raphael Varane.”
Parames went on to list a number of young players Mourinho has brought into the first team during his time at Chelsea, Real Madrid and Inter Milan.
He also questioned whether Van Gaal would be giving the likes of Marcus Rashford, United’s current scoring sensation, an opportunity if it were not for an extended injury list at Old Trafford.
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Mourinho will perhaps be hoping United take note of Parames’ words in their discussions over the next step they might take if they sacked Van Gaal.