Jose Mourinho Reassured over Victor Lindelof After Slow Manchester United Start

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has reportedly received assurances over summer signing Victor Lindelof after the former Benfica centre-back's poor start to life at Old Trafford.  

According to Samuel Luckhurst in the Manchester Evening News, Mourinho was surprised by how off the pace Lindelof was in pre-season, but he has been assured by Portuguese contacts that the Swede made a similarly slow start at Benfica. 

He subsequently went on to play a crucial role as Benfica won back-to-back league titles in 2015-16 and 2016-17 and established himself as one of the best young defenders in Europe.

The 23-year-old has so far struggled to adapt to life at United and put in a miserable performance as a 23rd-minute substitute for Phil Jones as the Red Devils lost 2-1 to Huddersfield Town last time out in the Premier League.

He was at least partially at fault for both of Huddersfield's goals and never looked comfortable in the back four, per ESPN's Rob Dawson:

Per Luckhurst, though, Mourinho defended Lindelof after the defeat to the Terriers:

And he has now been reassured that the young Sweden international just needs time to adapt after his £31 million move to United in the summer.

With Eric Bailly and Jones available again Lindelof is not expected to be in United's starting XI for their crucial Premier League clash with Tottehham Hotspur on Saturday.

His first few months with United have not been the best, but Red Devils fans can take encouragement from some of Lindelof's predecessors in the Old Trafford defence.

Patrice Evra, Jaap Stam and Nemanja Vidic all endured poor starts to their United careers before going on to become deserved club legends.