Manchester United star Jesse Lingard has suggested that Jose Mourinho made him a “winner” during their time together at Old Trafford.
The Portuguese tactician was United manager for around two-and-a-half years up until the end of 2018. Then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came in to revamp the dressing room and hoping to take up to the heights of yesterday, last seen under Sir Alex Ferguson.
During his time at United, however, Mourinho delivered the EFL Cup and Europa League. Lingard played 42 times during that pretty successful 2016/17 campaign.
United have not won a trophy since then – but Lingard has enjoyed a decent start to the 2021/22 season after his short loan spell at West Ham.
Lingard has written a piece for the Players Tribune where he praises Mourinho on how he would bring out the winning mentality in his players, writing: “Me and Jose had a good relationship generally, though, I have to say. He was good to me. Before all the injury stuff, he trusted me, put me in for important games. We won trophies and he made me a winner. He could just bring out that side in you.
“He also liked to have a personal connection with his players. Sometimes I’d look at my phone and I’d be getting a random FaceTime from him. Just out of nowhere — just to check in.
“I used to find it so strange at first. He’d call and be like, ‘Hey Jesse, what are you doing?’
“And I’d be like, ‘Erm, just chilling, watching TV… (awkward silence)… what are you doing?’
“Hahaha! I found it funny. And, to be fair, it showed how much he cared about us.”