Manchester United

Jose Mourinho: 'Premier League title not a necessity for Manchester United'

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 19 August 2016

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho insists that winning the Premier League title is not a "necessity" for his side this season.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has insisted that winning the Premier League title is not a "necessity" for his side this season.

The Red Devils are among the favourites to regain their place at the top of English football this season following the arrivals of Eric Bailly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Paul Pogba, in addition to Mourinho.

However, Mourinho believes that solely focusing on winning the title would be counter-productive for his side and is instead looking for improvement from the 20-time champions.

"I don't see it as a necessity. I think if I saw it that way it would not help me in my job. You cannot look at it as an obsession," he told Sky Sports News.

"You just have to work hard to improve. When you believe in your work and your players and everyone around, you are going to improve for sure. Is it enough to win it in the first season? Maybe it is enough, maybe it is not enough.

"The reality is we have to feel improvement. That's the objective, and we have a lot to do. But I have too many years of football, so I am really calm, and know we have to improve a lot, so that's the message to the players, and they want to do it."

Mourinho has won the Premier League title three times as a manager, all during his time in charge of Chelsea.