Jose Mourinho denies departure rumours

Game on Wednesday, so press conference Tuesday. That’s the way the news cycle turns. And so we discover that Jose Mourinho, contrary to some press reports, is not planning to leave Manchester United any time soon, and is not negotiating a new contract. So he says.

Of course, he didn’t specifically deny that he would like a big shiny new contract with many more zeroes and a few more years.

He went on to say that his recent predictions — that he wouldn’t finish his career at United — were motivated not by any specific wish to be off but by the general state of things. Football’s changed, you see. Managers come and go. Only Arsene Wenger remains. So was this whole nonsense confected to fill what would have been an otherwise boring press conference? Well, judge for yourself ...

Other notes from the press conference

— Benfica are a “good team”.

— Mourinho will not be telling us his starting line-up.

— United “want to try and win” but a draw would be a “positive result”.