Player 'interviews'

There will be individual meetings with his new squad. Mourinho, early on, likes to see the whites of his players’ eyes. He firstly does this as a group – to see how they respond, who speaks, who is quiet. And then one-on-one in his office in chats that he even refers to as ‘interviews’ as they are his way of finding out more about players, their character and motivation – and how they react to being quizzed by him. Mourinho will invite them to ask their own questions while he makes it clear that he can be “very nasty” as well as a “sweetheart”.

The messages will be unequivocal. Mourinho will promise to be direct and say what he means to their faces; he will tell them he will not tolerate gossip and, even less so, leaks from the dressing room - which can become a damaging obsession for him, as witnessed at Real Madrid and Chelsea; that the door to his office is always open; and that it is compulsory to wear shin guards during training because they will be working hard. “I only go to war with those I trust,” is another phrase the United players can expect to hear.