Mourinho provides tour squad update

Jose Mourinho has delivered an update to his squad during his first press conference of Tour 2018, presented by Aon.

Speaking in Los Angeles, the boss confirmed there is hope Alexis Sanchez can join the party at a later date, along with David De Gea, Fred and Nemanja Matic. Jose feels the early matches will be a great opportunity for the younger players but reinforcements will arrive soon.

There will also be chances for others to impress, with the opening fixture coming up in the early hours of Friday morning (03:00 UK time), against Club America, live on MUTV.

“Next week will come De Gea, Matic and Fred, which is good,” said the manager. “Especially Fred, a new player to be with us. Maybe it's good for Luke Shaw, Eric Bailly and Andreas Pereira, who is just back from a loan.”

The Reds who made the latter stages of the World Cup are unlikely to be ready to feature in the Premier League opener against Leicester City, which has been moved to Friday 10 August. Hence, Alexis's absence is particularly frustrating.

“It's really bad and he's really sad,” Jose said of the Chilean. “It's not good for him and not good for me, or for the team. There is no-one to blame. I know the club is making the effort but the US authorities have their processes. Hopefully, he can at least join us later because it is important to work with Juan Mata, Alexis and Anthony Martial, who we think are the players we have for the start of the season. There is no [Romelu] Lukaku, [Marcus] Rashford or [Jesse] Lingard.”

Portuguese recruit Diogo Dalot may be on the trip but he is unable to train and appears unlikely to be available until September.

The full-back had an operation before signing for the club and, despite making good progress, is still some way off full fitness.

“Dalot is injured,” confirmed Jose. “We knew that but we didn't want to lose him because of that. He is recovering really well. We think he can start training with the team when we go back to England. He is not going to be ready for the start of the season but we think he'll be ready for September.”