Jose Mourinho returns to Manchester with armed cop as United boss makes shock admission on Manchester United squad

[PHOTO: COURTESY]

Jose Mourinho has admitted Manchester United's famed production line of young talent has dried up.

The club that produced the Busby Babes and the Class of 92 is struggling to live up to its noble reputation as a producer of young talent, according to Mourinho.

United boss Mourinho took a host of youngsters on the club's five-game US tour, with so many of his established stars injured on on post-World Cup breaks.

Mourinho took seven rookies on the Stateside tour – Mason Greenwood, 16, James Garner and Angel Gomes, 17, Tahith Chong, 18, and RoShaun Williams, Ethan Hamilton and Joshua Bohui, all 19.

All were given snippets of first-team action on tour, largely as substitutes, as Mourinho struggled to put together a side fit for the pre-season build-up.

But after United ended their US tour with a 2-1 win over Real Madrid in Miami, Mourinho said the quality available to him was “not good” following the relegation of the Under-23s from Premier League Two last season.

[PHOTO: COURTESY]

“We had just a few players here, lots of kids,” said Mourinho.

“Our kids are really, really young because the team of all the ones the Under-23 was relegated, the team went to the second division.

“So the quality was not good. So we prefer to bring kids, and we had on the pitch today a couple of kids who were 17-years-old.”

That stark admission came on the back of Mourinho's blunt admission days earlier that many of the young players he was forced to take on tour to make up the numbers will be sent out on loan next season.

“This is not our team,” said Mourinho, in the wake of United's 4-1 defeat by Liverpool.

“We started the game with almost half of the players who are not even going to belong to our squad on August 9. They will not be here.

“So this is not our squad. This is not even half my squad or 30 per cent of it. So don’t look to this.”

United dropped into second tier of Premier League Two despite having finished as champions in three of the last five seasons.

The Reds, managed by Ricky Sbragia, were crowned champions in the first year of the competition's new format, after it replaced the Premier Reserve League in 2012-13.

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