Jose Mourinho: Man Utd's young stars lack maturity, Luke Shaw didn't know how to compete two years ago

Jose Mourinho says Manchester United's young stars Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford lack "maturity" in the modern game.

United have struggled this season, Mourinho's third at Old Trafford, with a difficult start to the season leaving them eighth, their worst in the Premier League era.

Shaw has been rewarded for impressive form with a new five-year contract while Martial understood to be close to agreeing his own long-term extension after scoring six goals in his previous five games.

But Mourinho is concerned by the lifestyles of younger players, telling South American outlet Univision (via Sport Witness) that his players need more "maturity" to step up another level.

"When I say that, I mean maturity at a personal level," he said. "We [him and interviewer] are more men, we are more mature, we were more prepared to face life. We were less protected.

"In England, they call it 'spoilt'. Today, we're talking about 'spoilt kids'. Our children are more 'spoilt' than we were.

"I think kids these days have a different social life than us, and players have around them an 'entourage', and I mean a personal entourage, the people that surround them, that protect them more, give them more affection, more excuses.

"They reach maturity more slowly. For example, this kid, Luke Shaw, who is currently the national team’s left-back, when I arrived here two years ago, he didn’t know how to compete. He had great potential, yes, but he didn’t know how to compete.

"When we talk about Luke Shaw, Martial, Lingard, Rashford, we're talking about kids with great potential but still lack a word I can’t say but that you like a lot... they lack a bit of that."