Jose Mourinho believes Nemanja Matic is a genius

Matic, who joined Manchester United from Chelsea in a £40m deal earlier this week, played his first game of pre-season last night in the 2-1 win over Sampdoria.

The 29-year-old was left out of Antonio Conte's squad for the Blues' tour of Asia and had to work on his fitness at the club's training ground alone.

Mourinho knows Matic well from his time at Stamford Bridge and believes the Serbian's "intelligence" negates his lack of action so far.

The United boss said: "A lonely pre-season is always a lonely pre-season – a player can be professional and work hard but football is collective and when you train alone, you train just a part of what you are as a player.

"The way he plays, he uses his brain but of course he needs physicality to be on top of his game.

"So he needs time but his experience, intelligence and genius in the way he thinks about football will help him to be ready sooner rather than later.

"That’s why he coped well with 45 minutes today.

"He makes everything so simple and is fantastic in his position."

United face Real Madrid in the Super Cup on Tuesday before kicking off their Premier League season against West Ham.