Jose Mourinho reveals that he faced accusations of bullying while manager at Manchester United
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Jose Mourinho has revealed that a player accused him of bullying at Manchester United, after making a half-time substitution.
In charge of Manchester United between 2016 and 2018, Jose Mourinho won the League Cup, Community Shield and Europa League during his time at Old Trafford.
Plenty of reports have since emerged about the issues the Portuguese boss faced at the club, with rifts between the management and players common come the end of his tenure.
Mourinho had a number of issues at United (Image credit: Getty Images)
And Mourinho has now opened up on one particular accusation he faced while at Manchester United, with an unnamed player suggesting that being substituted at half-time constituted bullying.
'When I was at Manchester United, I changed a player at half-time," Mourinho told The Obi One Podcast. "I made a change and was accused of bullying."
Mourinho's appearance on the podcast also saw him discuss the departures of Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne while he managed Chelsea for his second spell. Salah moved to Fiorentina on loan and then Roma permanently, while De Bruyne opted to join Werder Bremen to kickstart their careers at the top level - both choices that have since worked out.
Mourinho ended up letting De Bruyne leave (Image credit: Getty Images)
“To be honest, they left because they wanted to leave," Mourinho said. They left because they didn't want to wait.
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"History proves that their option was good because they've had the careers they have and reached a high standard, but sometimes kids make decisions like that because they can't wait, or they don't have the patience to be calm and to wait for the right moment. Sometimes their career goes in the wrong direction.
"When you are at Chelsea and you want to leave, go and another one comes. They were just kids who couldn't wait, and their careers say they were right, but it wasn't down to me. Probably other guys will say I pushed them out, but not them.”
Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
