'It's the most strange pre-season here so far': Ander Herrera admits it has been tough for Jose Mourinho on Manchester United's troubled US tour
* Ander Herrera admits pre-season is strangest he has had at Manchester United
* United have endured poor results, to the frustration of manager Jose Mourinho
* Herrera sympathises with Mourinho, who has been forced to work without stars
Ander Herrera admits this pre-season is the strangest he has experienced at Manchester United as the club's troubled tour of the US draws to a close.
Jose Mourinho's frustration at the squad available to him and United's inability to make new signings boiled over in an extraordinary outburst at the weekend.
However, Herrera sympathises with Mourinho because he has been forced to work without so many of his World Cup stars and use players who will not even be at the club this season.
Matteo Darmian's agents spoke to Napoli again yesterday (tues) as the Italy defender moved closer to a return to Serie A.
'This is my fifth pre-season and it's the most strange pre-season here so far,' said Herrera ahead of United's final game against Real Madrid in the early hours of this morning (wed).
'I can understand the manager. You want to fight for the titles, but you don't have the team with you to work for it right now.
'It must be difficult for him to work with a group of players that maybe he is going to have 50 per cent of them in the future.
Ander Herrera admits this pre-season is the strangest he has had while at Manchester United. Herrera says he sympathises with Mourinho, who has been forced to work without key stars. United have endured a number of poor results, to the frustration of manager Jose Mourinho. Herrera said that the United squad available in the US made the situation less than ideal
'Matteo Darmian is playing now every game but probably he's going to leave, and then some kids are probably going on loan.
'Then you have players like Tim Fosu-Mensah and Andreas Pereira. They are ready to play for Manchester United, but they haven't done it in the last year.
'It's really difficult for the manager to prepare the team because he likes to work tactically as well and he is not able to do it.'
Marcus Rashford and Phil Jones will return to training ahead of schedule early after representing England at the World Cup, but a number of other players - including Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku - remain unavailable to Mourinho with just 10 days to go until United begin the season at home to Leicester.
'The most intelligent thing would have been to postpone the start of the season by maybe one week, but we have to accept what is coming and luckily we are going to have some players that are now on holiday,' added Herrera.
'I think Manchester United is suffering the most because they have the most players in the semi-finals and the final, but this is football.
'For example, we played against Liverpool and they had maybe 80 per cent of their squad ready. Milan maybe 90 per cent.
'We didn't celebrate the (penalty shootout) victory against Milan, and we didn't cry after we lost to Liverpool because we know it's pre-season.'
Mourinho has made no secret of his frustration at the lack of new signings made by United chief Ed Woodward.
The club have spent less than £75million on Fred, Diogo Dalot and Lee Grant, and Mourinho wants two more players before the transfer window closes a week on Thursday.
'Always the managers want to improve their teams,' said Herrera. 'But it's not my business. It's something between the manager and the club. From my position, the only thing I can give is my best.'
Rashford and Lingard - who both played in England’s third-place play-off against Belgium 18 days ago - are on holiday in Miami and watched from the stands as United took on Real Madrid in the early hours of this morning.
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