Manchester United stars given home comforts as Jose Mourinho decides to ditch Lowry stay-over before matches

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Jose Mourinho has placed more trust in his Manchester United stars by allowing them to stay at home before games at Old Trafford.

Mourinho is continuing to put his stamp on the club and he has also given fitness coach Carlos Lalin a more prominent role as part of a shake-up of the medical department this summer.

The United manager told his squad before the opening Premier League fixture against West Ham nine days ago that they did not have to report to the Lowry Hotel on the evening before the match as usual.

Jose Mourinho is ready to put more trust in his players by letting them stay at home

Manchester United have stayed at the Lowry the night before home games for a decade

Instead, United’s players were allowed to spend Saturday night at home with their partners and families before having a pre-match meal and team meeting at the Lowry on Sunday.

The new procedure is expected to be in place again when they face Leicester City at home on Saturday.

United have been staying overnight at the five-star hotel for more than a decade since Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge, with both David Moyes and Louis van Gaal continuing the pre-match tradition.

But Mourinho believes his players will benefit by being at home, and trusts them to prepare for games in the right way without having to report for duty.

However, the United squad have been told that the new arrangement will be monitored throughout the new season to ensure players do not break the rules.

It’s understood that the majority of them have welcomed the move, although some senior players have expressed reservations.

The majority of the Manchester United squad have welcomed the move but concerns remain

Louis van Gaal enforced a strict bedtime of 10.30pm as well as meetings and a 'supper club'

‘They’re concerned that it will become too lax and the younger ones might take advantage,’ a source told Sportsmail last night.

United still have nearly two years left on their current deal with the Lowry where Mourinho has been living in a luxury suite since he took over as manager last summer.

The 54-year-old is now the only member of United’s coaching staff staying at the hotel after all but one of his assistants moved to nearby apartments close to the Manchester Arena.

Mourinho’s decision to relax the rules surrounding United’s pre-match preparations is in contrast to his predecessor Van Gaal whose strict regime included team meetings throughout the evening and a compulsory ‘supper club’ for the players followed by a 10.30pm bedtime.

While Mourinho is more laid-back in this respect, he is known to been frustrated with how long it took some of his injured players to return to action last season.

Carlos Lalin is believed to be exerting greater influence after a summer backroom shake-up

It’s understood that Lalin, the fitness coach who also worked with him at Real Madrid and Chelsea, now has more responsibility than his title suggests.

United shuffled their medical personnel last month with first-team physio Neil Hough switching jobs after three years in the role to head up the academy’s physiotherapy department with a broader responsibility for all United’s age-group teams.

Hough’s No.2 Richard Merron has stepped up to replace him this season, with academy physio Jon Picot joining Merron in the first-team set-up.

But Lalin is believed to be exerting greater influence behind the scenes, with Mourinho keen for one of his trusted lieutenants to try and speed up the players’ recovery process.

Marcos Rojo, who was not expected to play again until December, was pictured in first-team training on Tuesday after Luke Shaw and Ashley Young made their comebacks in an Under-23 game on Monday night.