Jose Mourinho is ready to take over Manchester United this upcoming season. (Photo : Getty Images)
The famous and storied Manchester United Football Club has traveled to China for a pre-season tour.
Jose Mourinho, Wayne Rooney and the rest of the first-team squad plus club legend Sir Bobby Charlton checked in, together with their new acquisitions, Defender Eric Bailly and Midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The complete line-up was spotted boarding their Aeroflot plane and then taking off as the pre-season visit to China gets under way.
Fans will be able to see Jose Mourinho's new team in action during a series of games designed to enable the new manager to formulate his plans for the upcoming season.
Two highly anticipated matches are to be played in front of Manchester United fans in China. The first one will be held at the Shanghai stadium on Friday, July 22, against Borussia Dortmund, while the second match is scheduled on Monday, July 25, at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing against the equally famed Manchester City FC.
The friendliest are highly anticipated by many fans who want to get first few looks at the newly acquired midfielder, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has just been signed to a four-year contract along with other new Center-back Eric Bailly, whom Jose Mourinho has planned to give a lot of minutes.
Mourinho said of Mkhitaryan: “He is a top-class player and currently at the best stage for a footballer--27/28 years old. He is magnificent the way he thinks about football, he thinks very quickly and it’s so sweet how he touches the ball.”
Mourinho has also said that he plans to nurture Eric Bailly in the same way that he did with Raphael Varane, giving the young buck his debut for the club in the 2-0 win away against Wigan Athletic last Saturday.
Newly acquired striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who earlier made comments to fans that he will be “the God of Manchester[sic],” will not be joining the rest of the Reds for the China tour.
