The career of José Neto will be launched by me.”

José Mourinho was in the press room this Tuesday to preview the game against Napoli, taking the opportunity to share some news about his commitment to using young players from the youth academy.

Attack on the market

“First, I’m not thinking about the transfer market; I’m thinking about what I have and getting the best out of the first-team players and the youth academy players. That’s why I’m not thinking about the market. I’m assuming there won’t be a market… if there is, thank you very much.”

Three young trainees making their debut.

“Tomorrow we will have ten players from Benfica’s youth academy among the 23 called up. And of those ten, three are joining me for the first time. We’re not talking about António Silva or Tomás Araújo, we’re talking about three young players who are arriving and making their debut.”

World champion José Neto called up.

“José Neto is in the squad, and if he’s in the squad, he can play. They need to know that if they make mistakes, we won’t hammer them. The pressure inherent in their debut is already enough, the move to a higher level is already enough; adding more pressure on that will only make it worse. What do they need to do to play more? They need to play better than the others and have someone believe in them. McTomminay will play tomorrow because someone took Pogba out to put him in. With José Neto, I’ll be that person.”