Gary Neville has raised suspicions that a player in the Manchester United dressing room is snitching on Jose Mourinho to the press.
Neville dropped the hint as a result of a news story published by the Telegraph, in which the outlet stirred speculation that Mourinho’s criticism of players is “nastier and more personal than Sir Alex Ferguson’s ever was”. The story discusses how “Manchester United’s players fear that Jose Mourinho’s fierce private and public criticism is damaging confidence and already having a destabilizing effect on their season,” though stops before naming any names.
While many would typically write off such a story as unsubstantiated speculation, former Manchester United defender and Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville added credibility to the report with the following tweet:
Leaks already after one bad week! Embarrassing!! https://t.co/VS6lViGywD
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) September 20, 2016
Neville, who was Man U’s club captain for five years, would potentially be privy to insider information regarding the goings-on in the club considering his history with them, and it’s suggested that he would likely refrain from commenting on this story if there wasn’t a modicum of truth to it.
Unfortunately for Man U’s squad, this is likely to have a damaging effect on the dressing room considering there is only a limited number of players who have played both under Alex Ferguson and Mourinho during his current United tenure. If it is true that a player is leaking behind-the-scenes information to the press, then there are only seven players in the current United squad who have experience with Ferguson and Mourinho; Rooney, Smalling, Young, Valencia, de Gea, Carrick, and Jones. Though there has inevitably been no confirmation in regards to the Telegraph’s report, that hasn’t prevented United fans from indulging in rampant speculation regarding which players could potentially be going behind Mourinho’s back.
Manchester United are next set to play Northampton in the third round of the Football League Cup this evening.
