José Mourinho predicts Scott McTominay and Demi Mitchell are among a batch of “half a dozen” home-grown Manchester United players who could become first-team regulars as the manager defended his record of blooding young talent.
McTominay, a 20-year-old midfielder, has already made two United appearances, including a full debut in the 2-0 win against Crystal Palace in the final Premier League game of last season, a game Mitchell, 20, also started. Mourinho believes each has a bright future at Old Trafford. Another young United talent is Andreas Pereira, who has featured 13 times for United, and spent last term on loan at Granada, where he played 37 times.
“I think Scott and Demetri are also kids to have a future in the club and Andreas Pereira is back,” Mourinho said. “Probably in a few years Man United will also have half a dozen of these kids [in the team].”
Mourinho, whose side were due to face Barcelona in Washington in Wednesday’s final match of their US tour, dismissed the notion he is not a manager who develops young players.
“The reputation is the reputation. But the other day I found myself in the tunnel before the Real Madrid game,” he said of the match in Santa Clara that United won 2-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. “I’m not talking about the second half because [those players] were kids who were 15-16 during my time there. But in the first half more than half the Real team, which is their first team because they were only missing [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Sergio] Ramos, all these guys started with me and had debuts with me.
“They came into the first team with me, they trained with me when they were 15 and 16 years old. Nacho, Casemiro, [Dani] Carvajal, Marcelo was 20. Almost all of them. So when the kids are good and have potential, there is no problem [for me to play them].”
United are seeking a fifth consecutive victory in their meeting with Barça at FedEx Field and a clean sweep of their tour games before flying back to Manchester. In addition to the shootout win over Real, Mourinho’s side have beaten Los Angeles Galaxy 5-2, Real Salt Lake 2-1, and Manchester City 2-0. They face Real Madrid again in the Uefa Super Cup final in Skopje, Macedonia on 8 August and begin their Premier League campaign with a visit from West Ham United on Sunday 13 August.