Jose Mourinho admits Manchester United’s young players act like ‘spoilt kids’ (AMA/Getty Images)

Jose Mourinho has criticised Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Luke Shaw for lacking ‘character’ at Manchester United.

The United manager has already admitted this season that he has been unhappy with the attitude of certain members of his squad and publicly questioned the reaction shown by some of his players in the aftermath of their 3-1 defeat to West Ham in September.

But Mourinho has now taken a direct swipe at United’s younger players by calling them ‘spoilt kids’ who have ‘an easier environment’ to the previous generation of players.

In an interview with Univision, when asked what his young players at United are lacking, Mourinho replied: ‘They are lacking maturity.




‘And let me be clear when I say maturity, I mean maturity on a personal level.

Luke Shaw has drastically improved under Mourinho this season (AFP/Getty Images)

‘We had more men, we were more mature, we were more prepared for life, we were less protected.

‘They are spoilt kids now, the kids of today have a different life, an easier environment and I’m talking about the people around the players.

‘These people give them too much affection and too many excuses.

‘People mature much more slowly now.

Mourinho has previously aimed a dig at Anthony Martial’s entourage (AFP/Getty Images)

‘Luke Shaw, he’s got big potential but doesn’t know how to behave.

‘Big potential, yes, big potential.

‘We’re talking about Luke Shaw, Martial, Lingard, Rashford – young, big potential, but at the end of the day it results in the word I cannot say [cojones], but you use it a lot here… character, personality, they lack a little.’