Mourinho delivers bad news to Manchester United about winning the title

Jose Mourinho Manager of Manchester United

Jose Mourinho has admitted Manchester United have no chance of winning the title any time soon if their rivals keep out-spending them.

Mourinho - who has no plans to leave United, according to his agent Jorge Mendes - also said their title wait will continue until the spending of local rivals Manchester City is curbed.

City are facing the threat of a Champions League ban for breaking UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules by allegedly inflating the value of multi-million pound sponsorship deals to meet FFP.

Under Pep Guardiola, champions City have spent around £527million, while United have at outlay of £382.5m on players over the same two-and-a-half-year period under Mourinho.

United’s last title triumph came back in 2013 when Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down, with the Reds currently down in eighth place in the table, 18 points behind leaders City.

And Mourinho has suggested the title will remain out of reach for a while if the City are able to splash the cash and go unchallenged over alleged breaches of spending rules.

Asked how long it will before United challenge for the title again, Mourinho said: “I don’t know. It depends on our evolution, but also other’s evolution.

“If the ones above us keep going in same direction and if their ambition and investment is continuous, that’s one thing.

“Another thing is if they stop, or if the Financial Fair Play makes them stop and then we can close the gap a little bit better.

“The world is full of suggestions and I never know if they are true or not true, and that’s not my job to analyse that.”

Liverpool’s 18th and last title win came in 1990, but Mourinho said he could not say if United are staring at the prospect of a similarly lengthy wait to be crowned champions again.

“I don’t know what happened in Liverpool,” said Mourinho. “I just know the numbers, but I don’t know why.”

Mendes said Mourinho is "happy" at United and said the 55-year-old self-titled 'Special One' is in for the long haul at Old Trafford.

“There have been more rumours of Jose leaving Manchester United," said Mendes. "It’s totally untrue. Jose is very happy at the club and the club is very happy with him.

"He has a long-term contract with Manchester United and is fully committed to the club in building a solid winning project."

 

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