Jose Mourinho uses bizarre orange tree metaphor to throw dig at Pep Guardiola

Has Jose been getting tips from Eric Cantona?

Darragh Murphy

Jose Mourinho uses bizarre orange tree metaphor to throw dig at Pep Guardiola

Come again?

We’re not quite sure what Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho meant when he uttered his allegorical assessment of Manchester City’s failed attempt to sign Alexis Sanchez.

City were universally viewed as front-runners to bring in Sanchez at the beginning of this month, with the player expected to favour a reunion with Pep Guardiola and an almost guaranteed chance of silverware this season over all else.

But once United came along with a bumper wage offer for the Chile international and the incentive of Henrikh Mkhitaryan for Arsenal, the deal was as good as done.

Jose Mourinho confirms that @Alexis_Sanchez will be part of #MUFC's squad travelling to Yeovil for Friday night’s @EmiratesFACup clash.

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 25, 2018

Sanchez is now a United player and could well make his debut in the FA Cup fourth round clash with Yeovil Town on Friday night.

There has been some criticism of Sanchez’s decision to pick United over City, with Gunners legend Martin Keown branding the 29-year-old the “biggest mercenary in football” and accusing him of choosing money over development.

But Mourinho refuses to pay any attention to comments about Sanchez’s basic salary of £300,000 and, in true Eric Cantona style, the United boss broke out a bonkers analogy in an attempt to worm his way out of answering the question.

“I didn’t listen to anyone moaning about (the figures),” Mourinho said.

He's already had a positive impact https://t.co/N0gx7K9cMK

— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) January 23, 2018

“I think Alexis reminds me a little bit of the history – I don’t know, it’s not a history, almost a metaphor – when you see a tree with amazing oranges in the top of the tree and then you cannot get there.

“You say, ‘Oh, I got the lower ones because I don’t like the ones at the top’. You like the ones at the top. They are so nice, so orange, so round, so full of juice but you cannot get there, so you say, ‘I don’t want to go there’ or ‘I didn’t like, I prefer the other ones.’ I think it reminds me a little bit of that story.”

Perfect!

It bears an uncanny resemblance to Cantona’s reaction to learning that he’d avoided a prison sentence for kicking a Crystal Palace supporter.

While Cantona stood up and left the press conference, having offered nothing in the way of clarity, Mourinho did provide some further explanation of his opinion on the numbers being discussed.

“I know that if other clubs did not get him it’s not a problem of money, for sure,” Mourinho said.

“When people speak about salaries, first of all I have many doubts. I am sure the numbers that are written are not exactly the numbers. Secondly, you have to put things in perspective.

“How much would Alexis Sanchez cost on a normal transfer, from club to club, as a player with two or three years of contract? We look to the numbers now and I would say roughly between £100-150million.

“So you put things into perspective – you go to the numbers that the club didn’t pay on the transfer. You go to the numbers that the club pays in salaries, which are obviously higher than others, but you put things into perspective.”