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Manchester United star: This is how we need to start life under Jose Mourinho
CHRIS SMALLING has outlined how important it is for Manchester United's stars to hit the ground running under Jose Mourinho.
Chris Smalling admits Man United must get off to a fast start in pre-season
The Red Devils are preparing for their first season under Mourinho with players returning to training this week.
United kick off their pre-season schedule against Wigan on Saturday before departing on their tour to China where they will play Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City.
United will play five pre-season friendlies before facing Leicester in the Community Shield on August 7.
Then a week later will begin their Premier League campaign against Bournemouth.
And Smalling wants his team-mates to be dominating games straight away.
"The tour is going to be a great test and it’s great to be able to play high-calibre teams," Smalling told United's website.
Chris Smalling - Spotlight on
"From the off, we want to get up to that standard where we are dominating the very best of teams, so it’s good to be playing them so early on in our pre-season programme."
Express Sport understands Mourinho has been handed a £200m transfer kitty and has already been making waves in the the summer transfer window, signing Eric Bailly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
He is also reportedly closing in on a £100m deal to re-sign Paul Pogba from Juventus, with Juan Mata the likely casualty to make way for the France international.
And reports over the weekend claimed Mourinho is ready to axe as many as eight players from his squad as he looks to work with a core of 22 players that can get United back to title-winning ways once again.
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