Never seen it in 17 years: Jose Mourinho slams England medical staff on Phil Jones treatment

As Manchester United take on Newcastle United on Saturday, Phil Jones will not be a part of the team set-up due to a thigh injury.

Jose Mourinho's Manchester United will play Newcastle United without Phil Jones.

Phil Jones left the field after 25 minutes in the friendly fixture against Germany. (AP)

As Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United gear up to take on newly-promoted Newcastle United on Saturday, the Portuguese manager slammed England medical team for allegedly giving six injections to defender Phil Jones before England’s friendly fixture against Germany last week. Speaking at a press conference, the two-time Champions League-winning manager said, “I have been a manager since 2000 and in 17 years I don’t have one single player that had injections of anesthetic to play a friendly. Never. Never.”

The English defender is unavailable to be included in the squad for Saturday’s game after he suffered a thigh injury during the friendly. The 25-year old was taken off the field in the 25th minute in the game after he suffered a knock. Jones was not 100 percent fit prior to the international break but was allowed to go for international duty by Mourinho.

The 54-year-old said he has also injected players before crucial games but has never seen it done before a friendly. “I am not an angel and I had players be injected to play official matches, crucial matches but a friendly — to get six local anesthetic injections to play a friendly, I’ve never heard of that,” he said.

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Expressing his anger over Jones’ treatment, Mourinho said that the player was not feeling fit before the start of the match. “I am just telling a fact. He was injected in the afternoon of the match, he didn’t feel good during the warm-up. Between the warm-up and the start of the match he had five more local injections to play the friendly,” United boss said.

Manchester United are currently at 2nd position in the table and are eight points behind table-toppers Manchester City. The Red Devils will hope to defeat Rafa Benitez’s side at Old Trafford and earn crucial 3 points. But missing out on Jones may hurt United, with newly bought Victor Lindelof struggling for form. United will most likely play Chris Smalling along with Eric Bailly in central defensive positions.