Jose Mourinho humiliated me in front of entire squad – my final year at Man Utd was one of the hardest things I’ve done
FORMER Manchester United star Angel Gomes has spilled the beans on the time Jose Mourinho told him off in front of teammates.
And he also admits his final season at Old Trafford “one of the hardest things I’ve done.”
Gomes, 22, was once tipped to be the next big thing at United.
The England U21 star and Euro winner joined the club in 2006, making his first-team debut 11 years later at the age of 16.
But Gomes featured just a total of 10 times in four years.
And he ended up packing his bags for French side Lille in 2020, where he has six goals in 69 games.
The midfielder has now lifted the lid on breaking into United’s senior squad when he was still a teenager.
Gomes told the Athletic how Mourinho once gave him a “b********g” in front of teammates.
But the then-17-year-old was too young to understand it was meant to be motivate him.
And Gomes admits he wished he could have learned more from the “amazing” Portuguese tactician.
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He said: “I played a game for the reserves and he watched — he didn’t think I played good enough. Two days later, the first team had a game and he took me with the team. At the pre-match, in front of everybody, he let me know about it.
“It’s all mental toughness. What I came to learn about Jose is he always wants you to do better. He is almost like prodding you: ‘Come on, show me a bit more. Everyone’s told me how good you are, but I want to see it’.
“If it’s not up to standard, he’ll let you know about it. But he might not let you know about it by telling you. You have to gauge what he wants from you. It might be from his body language. At 17, it’s hard to gauge that.
“It wasn’t until I left and I see Jose winning trophies that I think, ‘Ah, I understand you. And if only I had understood you more, I would have been able to appreciate my time more with you’. But no, in the midst of little b*********s, an amazing guy.”
Following Mourinho’s sacking in 2018, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over as Man United manager.
And Gomes found his playing time all-but-over, calling his final season at the club the toughest challenge of his career so far.
He added: “That final year at United was one of the hardest things I’ve done in football.
“Not really being involved, not knowing what’s going to be next. Seeing people doing well, training every week, but not really having opportunities to play.
“When I say training, I mean having that high standard. But then come the end of the week and there’s nothing for that. So it feels like you’re just wasting time.”
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