Valencia Enjoying Freedom In His Role

Antonio Valencia says he is playing with great freedom under Jose Mourinho and is itching to get back into Premier League action in Saturday's teatime kick-off with Newcastle United.

The Manchester United players have had to wait a couple of weeks to get the Chelsea defeat out of the system, but the right-back says he is feeling refreshed and is keen to be rampaging up and down the flank again.

"It was very important for me to have a week off so I could renew my energy levels and to switch off a little from the football, you could say, of having played a lot of games," he told United Review, the official matchday programme. "And then you come back keener and even more excited at the prospect of the league getting under way again. 

"It’s been a welcome change not having to travel away this time with the national team. We’re talking about really long trips of around 16 hours, which can be pretty tiring but, this time, I had the chance to not travel and instead get some rest along with my family."

Mourinho has often spoken in glowing terms about Valencia, who has been wearing the captain's armband of late, and it is fair to say the defender has a strong relationship with the boss.

"Yes, the season he arrived here, he showed a lot of faith in me from the start," added the Ecuador international. "You could even say that he gave me the freedom to play and enjoy my football, and to have an open line of communication with him. It’s been like that for the year and a half that we’ve been working together. I’d like to thank him for all his kind words during that period.

"I think his impact here has been a very positive one. We won three trophies last season and, this campaign, we are playing very well. We, the players, are enjoying ourselves and the fans are happy. But we’ve got to keep going like this, the mindset now must be to cement our position at the upper end of the table and to enjoy every training session and every team-talk we have with him."