Jose Mourinho admits he doesn’t know if Alexis Sanchez will be able to join Manchester United’s pre-season tour of the US, and is worried what effect a ‘very bad’ pre-season will have on his team.
Sanchez has been unable to obtain a visa to travel to Los Angeles with the rest of the squad due to problems relating to a conviction for tax fraud in Spain.
Mourinho accepts that not being able to work with the Chile international in addition to the World Cup stars resting after the tournament in Russia makes him ‘worried’ over the start of the campaign.
Alexis Sanchez has been forced to stay in Manchester after being denied a visa to enter the US
The Chilean trained alone at Carrington this week with his United team-mates in California
He also criticised the Premier League for giving United the opening fixture of the season on a Friday night at home to Leicester.
Asked when Sanchez could fly out to the US, the United boss said: ‘I don’t know. It’s really bad, really sad. It’s not good for him, for me for the team, for the organisation of the (International Champions) cup. It’s not good for anyone.
‘But there is no-one to blame, the club is making the effort I have to respect the US authorities in their process of visas, but hopefully he join us later because it could be important to work with (Anthony) Martial, Alexis and (Juan) Mata who are the players we have in attack for start of the season.
‘No (Romelu) Lukaku, (Jesse) Lingard, Marcus Rashford, so if Alexis is not working with us for 20 days it would be really bad.’
Mourinho’s worries have been compounded by United’s early start to the season just five days after their final friendly against Bayern Munich in Germany.
Jose Mourinho is worried over the absence of Sanchez and his World Cup stars in the US
The likes of Marcus Rashford, Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard are on holiday after Russia
He added: ‘Everything is really bad and then we go to the UK and have to play in the Premier League. The broadcasters were not nice to us with the Friday match which complicates more things, so I’ worried.
‘I’m not worried about playing Liverpool here or Real Madrid or AC Milan, the whole team, I’m not worried if we lose badly. I’m worried because I’m not training and then I go to the Premier League without lots of players.
‘But it is what it is and we have to try and make the best out of it with the players we have here.’
Mourinho has brought seven teenagers on tour to swell the numbers and give them experience of the first-team environment.
The Portuguese coach believes that is one of the few positives from a difficult situation as United prepare to play the first of their five games against Club America in Phoenix in the early hours of Friday morning.
‘The pre-season is very bad,’ he added. ‘The positive thing is only for the young boys that have a fantastic opportunity to train with us and to train what is to be a Manchester first-team player.
‘The chance to know all the details related to the life of a United first-team player and to have the chance to play against fantastic players – Liverpool, Milan, Real Madrid, to know other cultures, to play against MLS teams and Mexican teams.’