Mourinho to United talk is ‘an absolute scandal’ – Van Gaal

“No, he won’t be ready for England next month”, said United manager Louis van Gaal.

The arch-rivals have won 38 league titles between them as well as eight European Cups, yet both are struggling in the Premier League this season and are unlikely to relish being pitted against each other at this stage of the competition.

However, even if the Manchester United wanted to enjoy a win, such as the team’s 5-1 dismantling of FC Midtjylland last Thursday in the Europa League, he’s soon reminded of his precarious position.

The club have made no official comment on the speculation and Van Gaal is now focused on preparing his side for Sunday’s crunch Premier League clash with Arsenal at Old Trafford. “Everybody can win if you have the right idea and if you are full of trust”.

When a reporter suggested United have been inconsistent, he replied: “The media is inconsistent”. Sunderland, we didn’t lose because of the media, that’s true, but the media makes it bigger than it is.

“Oh, is that the second [Man City] team?” he asked.

“And what am I doing now?” It is unbelievable. It’s the same, but we don’t lose with such a difference.

Will Danny Welbeck kill off Manchester United’s season? “We have only lost one game [heavily], 3-0 to Arsenal, and they’re on another level, in my opinion”.

“But I have to build him up in the games and that’s not so easy, because he only had two training sessions with me”. After that we then have to look again.

“He came into the squad to substitute for a player from PSV Eindhoven and he only played ten minutes but I said to my colleague “he is a player, he can play”.

“I’ve said already a lot of times that that is fantastic but you have to be consistent”, he said.

“Chris [Smalling] is a question mark, but you never know”.