Ex-Man Utd ace now playing semi-pro had 'a few issues with Jose Mourinho'

A former Manchester United youth player has opened up about his experience of working under Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford, admitting he had “a few issues” with the Portuguese tactician.

Callum Gribbin first emerged on the scene during Louis van Gaal’s tenure in 2015 after making waves in the club’s academy. But he soon found his pathway to the first team blocked by Mourinho when he replaced Van Gaal.

Mourinho’s ruthless management style had been criticised by many at the time before his acrimonious departure in 2018, and Gribbin was one of many to fall out of line.

Dubbed ‘the English Messi’ in his younger years, he was highly rated by United coaches and scouted by Liverpool and City, before penning a four-year professional contract with the Red Devils.

But the difficulty of making it as a professional footballer at Old Trafford soon dawned on him when he began working under Mourinho, a manager who apparently wasn’t interested in his development.

“I used to think, ‘He’s not a***d, is he? He doesn’t even care about getting to know my name’,” Gribbin told The Athletic. 

“I look back now and I know I shouldn’t have got p****d off about it. But at the time, it used to get to me that I’d go out for training and he wouldn’t even watch.

“He’d be speaking to his staff or on the phone and I used to think, ‘I’m here, I’m trying to get a chance and he’s not even interested’. If I did say something to anyone, he’d be looking at me like, ‘You can’t be having a go, you’re an 18-year-old training with the first team’.

“But in my head, I was thinking, ‘No, I want to get a chance here’. So there were a few issues with Mourinho and other staff. Little things, just building up.”

Unlike Manchester-born academy hopefuls such as Marcus Rashford, Gribbin never got the chance to make his debut for the first team and was released in 2019.

Following his exit, Gribbin signed for Sheffield United and featured for their Under-23 team. However, he left the Blades without making a single senior appearance. He then moved to Barrow in August 2020, only for injuries to limit him to just five appearances for the club.

Now 25 and playing semi-pro football for FC United of Manchester, he admitted his release from United gave him a much-needed wake-up call.

“I was immature and, because I was so talented, I think I relied on it. I abused it over the years,” he added. “I relied on my talent getting me through all the time. So I do think I needed the lesson of getting released.”