José Mourinho has criticised Manchester City over their new documentary All or Nothing, accusing the club of lacking class and respect. “If you are a rich club you can buy all the top players but you cannot buy class,” the Manchester United manager said. “I haven’t seen the movie [sic] but I know a few things about it and that is my first reaction.”
Mourinho is a well-known controversialist and far from averse to attacks on other clubs and the way they go about their business, though in this case he may have a point. As United manager he features in Amazon’s behind-the-scenes docu‑series far more than might be expected in what is purportedly a documentary about City’s title-winning season; there is even footage of him in his Chelsea days discussing his reasons for moving out Kevin De Bruyne and the narration rarely misses an opportunity to adopt a sneering tone towards Mourinho and his players.
“I am in the movie so much I think I could ask for some royalties,” Mourinho said. “Perhaps without me it would not sell as much, I don’t know, but if City send me one of the shirts they had in the tunnel when we played there last, the ones that were saying: ‘We did it on derby day,’ then I will give up about the royalties.”
That is a reference to the Manchester derby last April, when City were poised to clinch the title with a win against United at the Etihad, only to surrender a two-goal lead and lose the game 3-2 when Paul Pogba inspired a fightback. Had City taken the points they would have conducted their celebrations wearing specially printed T-shirts making reference to the fact that they had won the title by beating their greatest rivals, or so Mourinho remains convinced.
He maintains he has not seen City’s documentary and probably has no intention of watching it in its entirety, though he has evidently been briefed that it contains a certain amount of gloating at United’s expense.
Pogba would go on to win the World Cup with France in the summer, then fuel speculation over his relationship with his club manager by indicating he was being forbidden to speak freely about United, though according to Mourinho the pair have been getting on fine and the manager “couldn’t be happier” about his stand-in captain’s work and professional attitude.
The same seems to apply to David de Gea, who did not have such a successful World Cup, though Mourinho claims his goalkeeper was unfairly singled out for criticism because he plays for United. “David played four matches in the World Cup and he made one mistake,” Mourinho said. “That was in the early game against Portugal and his team didn’t even lose. It was not the most costly mistake because Spain went on to equalise, and then they topped their group. They drew against Russia in the fourth game and lost on penalties.
“So in around 400 minutes of open play David made one mistake and his team was not even punished for that mistake. All the other guys in the team were protected from criticism because they play for Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, etc. The poor guy who plays for Manchester United was the one the press chose to destroy, but David is stronger than that. He knew perfectly well he was not responsible for Spain being knocked out, he came back normal and by the time we were in the United States he was working as hard as ever.”
De Gea’s much-anticipated move back to Spain appears to be off for the time being, with Thibaut Courtois presumably filling Real Madrid’s needs for the foreseeable future, though the player’s market value must have risen after a summer when first Liverpool and then Chelsea paid world record sums for new goalkeepers, with the latter paying Athletic Bilbao £71m for the 23-year-old Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Then again, Mourinho thinks not. “The price of De Gea in today’s market is zero,” the United manager said. “He is a Manchester United player, he will sign a new contract as soon as possible, he likes it here and we love him. He wants to stay and we want him to stay, so he is not in the market. And when a player is not in the market his value is zero.”
Mourinho does not attempt to deny that there was interest from Madrid, or that at various times intermediaries were agitating for a move, but says the situation has been handled professionally and amicably. “The agent didn’t create a war to try and achieve his objectives, and I must thank him for that,” the Portuguese said.
“He respected the club and the player, and the player was always happy to stay, so credit to all three parties.”
At just 27, De Gea now finds himself older than most of the individuals who are changing clubs for vast sums elsewhere in the Premier League, though Mourinho has no worries on that score.
“I wouldn’t swap him for anyone,” he said. “My goalkeeper is always the best in the world, if you understand what I mean. I used to say that when I was coaching União Leiria, a small club in Portugal. I don’t mean to be disrespectful or arrogant and imply that Courtois or Manuel Neuer is not good. There are so many good goalkeepers out there but I am happy with mine.”
