Roma manager Jose Mourinho has heaped praise on Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic ahead of the summer transfer window.
There is going to be a big overhaul at Man Utd this summer. Matic is one of the players set to leave as his contract expires in June.
Mourinho has previously managed the midfielder twice during spells at Chelsea and the Red Devils.
Matic has played 189 times for Man Utd since the start of the 2016/17 campaign. That includes 32 outings this season.
It was reported last month that Mourinho is keen to sign Matic again this summer so Roma are pursuing the 33-year-old.
When asked about the Man Utd star, Mourinho acknowledged that “everybody knows his relationship with Nemanja”:
“I never like to speak about players, I don’t think it’s good for me, the club, the players,” Mourinho told Sky Sports.
“Everybody knows my relationship with Nemanja, he’s one of the guys with my trust. We won together, we fought together in United too.
“He’s a fantastic player but that’s the kind of answer that is not good for me or for the player.”
Mourinho is also pleased that he and Henrikh Mkhitaryan proved the critics wrong who said the pair couldn’t work together again after their spell at Man Utd.
“We [Mkhitaryan] won together three titles [Community Shield, League Cup, Europa League] at Man United, unfortunately the last three titles of Man United. I say ‘unfortunately’ because, yes, I like the club very, very much and I wish the club the best.
“We won three titles together so everything went well. In the second season, we were together was a little bit different. The thing that makes me really happy was because in the beginning people try to go on a negative and say, ‘Miki with Jose has no chance, Jose is the kind of guy when things go wrong never go well again’, it was proven exactly the opposite.
“We were very mature, honest with each other at that time even with Mino (Raiola), rest in peace Mino, the discussion was very good.
“I try always to be very honest with the players. I saw my project in Rome needing a player like Miki, I also understand the importance of Miki in the group and he’s having an amazing season.”
