Chelsea have sold Manchester United 'a genius' in Nemanja Matic, says Jose Mourinho

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James Benge3 August 2017

Jose Mourinho is convinced his former side Chelsea have sold Manchester United a “genius” in the form of Nemanja Matic.

The Manchester United boss was reunited with the anchorman from his 2014-15 title-winning Blues side earlier this week in a £40million switch.

Matic made his United debut in Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Sampdoria, completing 45 minutes. While his new manager admits the 29-year-old lacks match sharpness he is convinced the former Chelsea midfielder will be worth the big money fee.

“He needs time but [his] experience, intelligence, a genius in the way he thinks - he thinks football,” Mourinho said.

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“We will help him to be ready sooner rather than later.”

Matic joined Victor Lindelof and Romelu Lukaku as new arrivals in Jose Mourinho’s £150m revamp of a Manchester United squad that finished sixth last season.

​Mourinho has been linked with Inter Milan winger Ivan Perisic and consistently he wants to bring in a quartet of new players but the manager praised United’s “fantastic job” in recruiting three of his four targets.

He added: “To get three out of four I thank the club for that, I will be happier if they get me four of four but they did a great effort for me.”