London, July 30: Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has asked his club's World Cup participants to consider cutting their holidays short so that he has a full team at his disposal in the Premier League opener against Leicester City on August 10.
Several players from United's first-choice starting line-up, including Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard, are resting after the World Cup and could miss the Premier League opener.
England defender Phil Jones and forward Marcus Rashford are expected to shorten their vacations to help a struggling United squad prepare for the start of the season. Mourinho has suggested that others should do the same so as to help the depleted team in the opening stages of the new 2018-19 Premier League season.
"I hope that the boys on deserved holidays take care of themselves a bit and that somebody wants to do what Rashford and Phil Jones decided to do, which is to be back a bit earlier to try to help the team because for the beginning of the season we are going to be in trouble," Mourinho told reporters on Sunday.
To add to United's woes, midfielder Nemanja Matic is the most recent to pick up an injury in pre-season. Chris Smalling, Marcos Rojo and Antonio Valencia are also sidelined.
United slumped to a 1-4 defeat to league rivals Liverpool in the pre-season International Champions Cup on Sunday and will be looking to avoid another dismal result when they take on Champions League holders Real Madrid on Wednesday.
The Portuguese coach was very critical of his team after the defeat to Liverpool.
"If I was them I wouldn't come. I wouldn't spend my money to see these teams."
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 29, 2018
Jose Mourinho didn't mince his words in his post-match press-conference after his side lost to #LFC.
More: https://t.co/7xfm6RuBjs pic.twitter.com/liDrJXyVlS
The Old Trafford outfit play German champions Bayern Munich in their final pre-season friendly on Aug. 5 before hosting Leicester in the opening league match