Man United face ‘difficult season’, Mourinho warns after Bayern defeat

Manchester United’s final friendly before the start of the Premier League season ended in a 1-0 defeat by Bayern Munich on Sunday night, as Jose Mourinho suggested a ‘difficult season’ awaits the club unless the owners make more signings before Thursday’s transfer deadline. Javi Mart?nez scored the only goal at the Allianz Arena, glancing home a second-half header from a corner, while the 34-year-old Bayern forward Arjen Robben had a late strike ruled out for offside.After the match, Mourinho once again lamented the lack of transfer action this summer, which has so far yielded Brazil midfielder Fred for £55mn, 19-year-old full-back Diogo Dalot (£19mn), and back-up goalkeeper Lee Grant (£1.5mn).In sharp contrast, Champions League finalists Liverpool have spent more than £170 million ($220 million) on new signings including Brazil’s World Cup goalkeeper Alisson and midfielders Fabinho and Naby Keita.Mourinho said on Sunday night: “My CEO knows what I want and I still have a few days to wait and see what happens. The other clubs who compete with us are really strong and already have fantastic teams. Or they are investing massively like Liverpool, who are buying everything and everybody. If we don’t make our team better, it will be a difficult season for us.”United, who start their league campaign at home to Leicester on Friday evening, were captained by Alexis Sanchez in Bavaria and endured another difficult night in a patchy pre-season campaign in which they lost to Liverpool and were held by San Jose Earthquakes and Club América. However they did beat Milan on penalties in Los Angeles and Real Madrid 2-1 as they wrapped up their US tourThe Chile forward was supported in attack by Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Andreas Pereira, with the recent signing Fred partnering Ander Herrera in central midfield.Mourinho brought a host of youngsters off the bench in the second half, including the left-footed 18-year-old winger Tahith Chong and England under-21 defender Axel Tuanzebe, while goalkeeper Lee Grant, signed from Stoke in July, came on for No 1 David de Gea in goal.At full-time, he compared his youthful team to the raft of talent at Bayern’s disposal, including experienced players such as Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben. Mourinho told his club’s official website the match was a “fantastic experience” for his young side, adding: “Finally, it’s over. Finally, such a difficult pre-season is over. The players were, once more, brilliant. They could not have done better than what they did.” United created little during the match and were unable to find an equaliser in the closing stages. England forward Rashford wore the No 10 shirt in Munich and the club later confirmed he will do so during the coming campaign, switching from 19. The squad number, previously worn by United’s record goalscorer Wayne Rooney, has been vacant since the departure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to LA Galaxy.