Graeme Souness says Manchester United got it wrong by appointing Jose Mourinho

Former Liverpool midfielder Graeme Souness believes Manchester United made a mistake in appointing Jose Mourinho.

The former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss took over at Old Trafford last summer and led the Red Devils to League Cup and Europe League Cup wins last season, qualifying for the Champions League in the process.

But Souness insists he is not the right man for the job, claiming that United were influenced by the appointment of Pep Guardiola at their cross-town rivals Manchester City.
"I didn't think Mourinho was right for United and I said that from day one," he told Yahoo Sport.

"Because Guardiola was coming in at Manchester City, the people making decisions at Old Trafford felt compelled to go and get a big name manager and they ended up with Jose."

Despite becoming the first Manchester United manager to win silverware in his first season, Souness believes that Mourinho is still struggling to establish his first-choice XI.
"He has taken on a very difficult job at United and struggled to find his find his best eleven last season, if he ever found it.

"A big concern for me that their best player for most of last season was a 35-year-old in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, with 35-year-old Michael Carrick also one of the top performers."
The Red Devils finished in sixth place last season, with any hopes of a sustained Premier League title challenge long gone.

And Souness says this must change next year.
"Mourinho is used to winning league titles and finishing where he did last season in the Premier League will not be acceptable, but it won't be easy to put it right."

Mourinho has already begun his summer recruitment by signing £31million defender Victor Lindelof from Benfica, while the club are closing in on a swoop for Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic.

The Portuguese also looks set to bring in a new striker, with Alvaro Morata being heavily linked. Mirror