Jose Mourinho has declared Manchester United want to win the title
Mourinho insists Manchester United must always be classed as challengers for the Premier League and claimed some other managers lack the courage to make the same target public.
The new United boss - who won the Premier League three times as Chelsea manager - said: “We feel that we are candidates to win the title.
“We know that not one or two or three more than that have the same ambitions. We cannot speak differently. We want to fight for the title.
“At the end of the season we are not champions because someone is better than us then great, that’s football.
“But at Manchester United football club you cannot say differently, we have to fight for the title.
“Many more think the same way as us but they are afraid to say it. They prefer to play a defensive game in words.
“They prefer to say or to hide or to play defensively with the words, that's not our way. I don’t think that's Manchester United. I think Manchester United has to say we want to win the title.
“We have all the respect for the others and maybe we don’t win, maybe we arrive end of season and happy to finish top four. It depends on how season goes.
“But in this moment when I speak to you I speak to my players too, and I cannot speak differently.”
United - who finished fifth last season under Louis van Gaal - will kick off their title bid at Bournemouth on Sunday without record signing Paul Pogba, who must serve a one-match ban collected with previous club Juventus.
Mourinho admitted he only found out two days ago that the suspension for receiving two yellow cards in the Coppa Italia would rule out the £89million midfielder.
“I forget about Paul for a few days and he will be ready to play versus Southampton (on Friday),” Mourinho added.
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Meanwhile, the United boss insisted Adnan Januzaj still has a future at Old Trafford.
Mourinho said the winger, 21, was being allowed to join Sunderland on a season-long loan to give him matches and monitor his progress in the Premier League.
“If he doesn’t fit in my plans we don’t care about which club and where he's going,” said Mourinho.
“We just send him to Borussia Dortmund where he didn’t play one match. We care very much. We think he's a talented player.”
