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Jose Mourinho: 'Players overlooked for friendlies free to leave'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 31 July 2016

Jose Mourinho stresses that "the squad is more important than the individual" at Manchester United after telling overlooked players to find new clubs this summer.

Jose Mourinho has told Bastian Schweinsteiger and Adnan Januzaj to find new clubs after omitting the duo from Manchester United's friendly win over Galatasaray.

The Red Devils came out on top 5-2 in a topsy-turvy clash in Gothenburg on Saturday evening to make it two wins from three outings this summer.

New boss Mourinho is slowly starting to shape his squad, but he is not willing to give Schweinsteiger and Januzaj a chance to impress after overlooking the duo once again.

"If they were not in my plans I would not give them one single minute, I would not keep them in my squad," he told MUTV when asked about giving fringe members playing time. "The squad is very competitive, the squad is very important for the season.

"We have 38 matches in the Premier League, we have the possibility of 15 matches in the Europa League, plus domestic cups, we are going to play 60 matches. So with 60 matches we cannot do it with 11 players. So to be in the squad you have to understand that the squad is more important than the individual.

"The club is more important than all of us, and to be in the squad you have to be ready for this, to play, not to play, play a lot, play less, play 90 minutes, play one minute, not be selected, everything is part of a squad life. And if you want to be in a club like we are, the club is much more important than us."

United are back in action on Wednesday evening when taking on Everton at Old Trafford in Wayne Rooney's testimonial, before facing Leicester City in the Community Shield next weekend.