Ander Herrera declares Chelsea the best side Manchester United have faced this season
The Spaniard said he was enjoying his time at the club more than he ever has before
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United’s Ander Herrera has declared in the presence of Jose Mourinho that Chelsea are the best and most difficult team he has faced this season and have the most focus of any Premier League side.
Mourinho was not scheduled to be in the company of Herrera, Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David de Gea at a United sponsorship launch on Wednesday but appeared on the sidelines at an event in which Herrera said it was “difficult” to identify United’s toughest opponent of 2016/17, yet conceded it had to be Chelsea.
“Every game has been difficult but let me think – the game that we deserved to lose clearly was Chelsea so Chelsea so far has been the best team,” the 27-year-old said. “They are very compact. They are very difficult to beat and they have been clear in the things that they have to do. I think they deserve to be first, to be honest.”
Mourinho’s return to Stamford Bridge in October was humiliating, considering that he had apportioned some of the blame for last season’s west London failure at the door of his former Chelsea players, before he was dismissed. The 4-0 defeat ended with Mourinho accusing Antonio Conte of attempting to humiliate him by playing to the crowd in the game’s closing minutes.
Mourinho, sacked by Chelsea last December, was overheard telling Conte at the end of the game: “You can do it at 1-0 but not at 4-0.” Mourinho did not hear Herrera’s assessment of his old club, which happened outside of the main launch event for a new United watch collection in the United Megastore.
Herrera said that Mourinho had helped to improve his contribution, which is much better than it was under Louis van Gaal, under whom his United career did not develop. Herrera has looked like future captain material under Mourinho. But the Spaniard said his development was not just down to Mourinho.
“Of course, our manager is helping me a lot but I have done it by myself as well. I have made one step in my career,” he said. “My first two seasons here I played 71 games so it’s not a bad number of games. But, of course, I cannot lie. This is the time I am enjoying most at Man United. Since the first day I came I’ve felt very lucky because I play for this club.”
Ander Herrera was speaking at the unveiling of the TAG Heuer Manchester United Watch Collection. The new TAG Heuer special edition Manchester United watches will be sold at the Manchester United Megastore boutique as well as selected TAG Heuer retailers. The collection is also available online atwww.store.manutd.com and www.tagheuer.com
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