Jose Mourinho: 'Premier League title not a necessity for Manchester United'

Jose Mourinho the manager of Chelsea looks on during the Capital One Cup fourth round match between Stoke City and Chelsea at the Britannia Stadium on October 27, 2015 in Stoke on Trent, England.
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Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho insists that winning the Premier League title is not a "necessity" for his side this season.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has insisted that winning the Premier League title is not a "necessity" for his side this season.

The Red Devils are among the favourites to regain their place at the top of English football this season following the arrivals of Eric Bailly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Paul Pogba, in addition to Mourinho.

However, Mourinho believes that solely focusing on winning the title would be counter-productive for his side and is instead looking for improvement from the 20-time champions.

"I don't see it as a necessity. I think if I saw it that way it would not help me in my job. You cannot look at it as an obsession," he told Sky Sports News.

"You just have to work hard to improve. When you believe in your work and your players and everyone around, you are going to improve for sure. Is it enough to win it in the first season? Maybe it is enough, maybe it is not enough.

"The reality is we have to feel improvement. That's the objective, and we have a lot to do. But I have too many years of football, so I am really calm, and know we have to improve a lot, so that's the message to the players, and they want to do it."

Mourinho has won the Premier League title three times as a manager, all during his time in charge of Chelsea.

Will Manchester United win the Premier League title this season?

Yes
No
Yes
80.0%
No
20.0%
Nice's French head coach Claude Puel looks on during the French L1 football match between Rennes and Nice on October 18, 2015
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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Manchester CityMan City22006246
2Manchester UnitedMan Utd22005146
3Hull City22004136
4Chelsea22004226
5Everton21103214
6Middlesbrough21103214
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs21102114
8Burnley21012113
9West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom21012203
10West Ham UnitedWest Ham21012203
11Liverpool210145-13
12Swansea CitySwansea210112-13
13Arsenal201134-11
14Watford201123-11
15Leicester CityLeicester201112-11
16Southampton201113-21
17Stoke CityStoke201125-31
18Sunderland200224-20
19Crystal Palace200202-20
20Bournemouth200214-30