Sport <> Football
Anthony Martial is one of the players allegedly singled out by Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho has allegedly accused four of his players of "lacking maturity and character".
In an interview with Spanish-language publication Univision, Mourinho was quoted by metro.co.uk as laying into Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford.
"They are lacking maturity," he said.
"And let me be clear when I say maturity, I mean maturity on a personal level.
"We had more men, we were more mature, we were more prepared for life, we were less protected.
In an interview with Spanish-language publication Univision, Mourinho was quoted by metro.co.uk as laying into Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford.
"They are lacking maturity," he said.
"And let me be clear when I say maturity, I mean maturity on a personal level.
"We had more men, we were more mature, we were more prepared for life, we were less protected.
"They are spoilt kids now, the kids of today have a different life,
an easier environment and I’m talking about the people around the
players.
"These people give them too much affection and too many excuses. People mature much more slowly now.
"Luke Shaw, he’s got big potential but doesn’t know how to behave. Big potential, yes, big potential.
"We’re talking about Luke Shaw, Martial, Lingard, Rashford – young, big potential, but at the end of the day it results in the word I cannot say, but you use it a lot here… character, personality, they lack a little."
United are currently languishing in eighth position, seven points off the top four. They face Crystal Palace at home on Saturday.
"These people give them too much affection and too many excuses. People mature much more slowly now.
"Luke Shaw, he’s got big potential but doesn’t know how to behave. Big potential, yes, big potential.
"We’re talking about Luke Shaw, Martial, Lingard, Rashford – young, big potential, but at the end of the day it results in the word I cannot say, but you use it a lot here… character, personality, they lack a little."
United are currently languishing in eighth position, seven points off the top four. They face Crystal Palace at home on Saturday.