Two of the four Man Utd stars named and shamed by Jose Mourinho have left the club

Manchester United have made little progress since Jose Mourinho left the club under a dark cloud, with two of the players he publicly lambasted still playing for the Red Devils

Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United tenure seems more and more respectable with each passing season.

The Portuguese manager oversaw a rollercoaster period in charge of the Red Devils between 2016 and 2018. The ‘Special One’ won the Europa League and League Cup in his first season but, despite spending a fortune, was unable to build on his success and was sacked midway through the 2018/19 campaign.

The latter part of Mourinho’s United tenure can be best summed up by negative football and regular fall outs with his players, several of whom he ‘threw under the bus’ in his press conferences. As a master of the psychological side of the game, the now-Fenerbahce manager launched rants in an attempt to spark a positive reaction from his players – but they also had an adverse effect in creating a toxic atmosphere at Carrington.

One of his most famous tirades in 2018 saw him take aim at Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard – the latter two having since left the club – in one fell swoop. Mourinho will be reunited with Shaw and Rashford when he welcome’s Erik ten Hag’s men as they visit the Turkish capital ahead of Thursday evening's Europa League clash.

The two-time Champions League winner had said about the quartet: "They're lacking maturity. For example Luke Shaw. When I got here two years ago, the boy didn't even know how to compete. Great potential, yes, but he doesn't know how to compete

"And when we talk about Luke Shaw, about [Anthony] Martial, about [Jesse] Lingard, about Marcus Rashford, we're talking about boys with great potential but who still are lacking – a word I can't say but you like to say a lot – having that [courage]. They're lacking a bit of this."

Mourinho added: "In English, in the United States, people might say 'spoiled' or 'spoiled kids'. Our children are more spoiled than we were by our own parents. We were more mature, we were better prepared. I think today's kids have a different social life than ours and today's players also have their surroundings, a word that was used a lot in Barcelona, the interior environment.

"Always making excuses makes you mature more slowly. [I mean] character, personality, like you] said in Spanish – 'mala hostia' – that natural aggressiveness that you had."

Mourinho's criticisms appear to have been justified. Lingard was flogged by his boyhood club in 2022 for Nottingham Forest and now plays for South Korean side FC Seoul, while Martial finally left for AEK Athens earlier this year.

United’s troubles persist even six years after Mourinho’s departure and three managers later, while his message about unfulfilled potential remains as poignant as ever. Close to £2billion has been spent by the club since Sir Alex Ferguson won the Premier League in 2013 - but Mourinho is still their most successful manager in the post-Ferguson era.

They ended last season with their worst finish in both the Champions League and the Premier League (eighth) under Ten Hag. United are currently languishing down in 12th place in the league and are desperate for their first Europa League win in three attempts when they come up against Mourinho’s Fenerbahce.

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