Two of the four players Jose Mourinho 'named and shamed' at Man Utd are still at the club ahead of Fenerbahce clash

It has been five years since Jose Mourinho singled out four of his Manchester United players by saying they lacked the "character" and "personality" he desired.

The self-proclaimed 'Special One' will come up against his former side on Thursday night as United take on Turkish side Fenerbahce in the Europa League.

Mourinho, who took charge of the Premier League club following the abrupt departure of Louis Van Gaal in 2016, lifted the Europa League title with United during an eventful two-and-a-half-year spell at Old Trafford.

Speaking ahead of Thursday's tie, Mourinho was asked whether he thinks his former side had changed since his dismissal.

"I wish the best to Manchester United since the moment I left," he said. "I left with a good feeling to the club and the fans and I want the best for them. So if things are not going amazingly well for them it's not something that makes me happy."

The 61-year-old added: "It's very objective, that they keep faith in the coach, they support the coach, the coach is staying season after season and that means stability and it means trust. They are giving him conditions to keep developing his job that was a difference in relation to me."

Mourinho enjoyed mixed success with the Reds. Back in November 2018, United were going through a difficult spell when the Portuguese manager decided to play a risky move.

Speaking in an interview with TV channel Univision, he was asked by Barcelona legend Hristo Stoichkov about his "diamonds" [youth players] at United and what they were lacking to compete at the highest level.

Mourinho would go on to name Luke Shaw – a player he had previously ousted on numerous occasions – as someone who didn't know how to compete before naming Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard as others who needed to step up their game.

“They are lacking maturity," he said. "When I say that, I mean maturity at a personal level. We [talking to interviewer Hristo Stoichkov] are more men, we are more mature, we were more prepared to face life. We were less protected. In England, they call it ‘spoilt’."

Mourinho added: "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, [Anthony] Martial, [Jesse] Lingard, [Marcus] 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.

"Character, personality, as they say in Spain as well, bad blood, that natural aggression that you had."

Image credit: Getty

A month after the interview with Stoichkov, Mourinho was sacked following a defeat to Liverpool that left United eleven points adrift of the Premier League top four.

Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford, meanwhile, remain on the books at OId Trafford, while Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial ply their trade elsewhere.