Jose Mourinho: ‘Some players care more than others’

The Portuguese heads into Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Valencia on the back of a winless three-match run – with a penalty shootout defeat to Derby County in the Carabao Cup sandwiched between a 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers and a 3-1 reversal at West Ham.

In another eventful press conference, Mourinho fielded questions about his future, his players and his mooted successor Zinedine Zidane.

"I think some care more than others," Mourinho said.

"After 20 years of football, I am still the kid that I was 20 years ago and I am still naïve, but I still don't believe that a player is not honest.

"There were big players in the past and I ask these people with great reputations if at any time in their careers they went to a game not to give the maximum, not to help the club, not to make the fans happy and not to try his best.

"If somebody tells them "I was a football player and I didn't give my best" then I change my opinion. Until somebody who was a big professional player says he was a dishonest player, I will always believe the players. They do it, they don't do it that's a different story, but I repeat I am naive or I still believe the player is an honest man.

"Sometimes what it looks is exactly the opposite. You can be laughing and be the saddest person in the world and you can have a sad face and inside you are very happy."

Mourinho was also quizzed about a report which claimed he was already preparing for his Old Trafford exit after receiving a call from Zidane, the favourite to replace him.

"Ask the guy behind you, he was the one who wrote it", Mourinho responded, referring to Sun journalist Neil Custis.