Sunday 9 December 2018 16:01, UK
Jorge Mendes' decision to release a statement on Jose Mourinho's future at Manchester United is not helpful to the club or the manager, said Sunday Supplement journalists.
Mendes issued a rare statement on Friday insisting Mourinho remains "fully committed" to United amid reports of interest from Real Madrid, before Mourinho's men swept to a 4-1 win over Fulham.
Sky Sports News reported last week that sources close to the United boss had dismissed claims he could return to the Bernabeu as untrue.
Now Mendes - head of agency Gestifute - has said: "There have been more rumours of Jose Mourinho leaving Manchester United. It's totally untrue.
"Jose is very happy at the club and the club is very happy with him. He has a long-term contract with Manchester United and is fully committed to the club in building a solid winning project."
However, speaking on the Sunday Supplement, the Daily Telegraph's chief football correspondent Jason Burt questioned the unusual step Mendes took to come out with the statement, and feels it has been damaging for all concerned.
"It is extraordinary," Burt said. "For an agent to release a statement like this beggars belief. Why is he speaking on behalf of Manchester United? It is up to them if they want to release a statement about their employee, it is not down to the agent.
"He can talk on behalf of his client, but don't bring Manchester United into it and say Manchester United are happy. It is up to them if they want to make a statement. If they don't want to make a statement then fine.
"Jorge Mendes, it seems to me, is saying 'my client has a contract, and he will honour that contract. I expect that contract to be honoured, either with him staying, or the money he is due he is not staying.'
"I don't think it is a good look for Mourinho, or for Mendes, or for Manchester United. I just don't think the statement was necessary at all."
The statement came on the back of reports that United were lining up Mauricio Pochettino as a potential replacement for Mourinho, something that will have really irked the United boss, according to the Daily Mirror's chief sports writer Andy Dunn.
"The story about Pochettino being lined up as a potential replacement for Mourinho will really annoy him on a personal level," Dunn said. "How many times does he refer to coaches who have not won anything? When Mourinho sees the sort of press that Pochettino gets from journalists, it will really wind him up.
"The same as it wound him up when he suggested that journalists all love Arsene Wenger, now Poch has sort of took that role. What winds him up is the championing of other managers, which is why he feels the need to repeat how many trophies he has won."
