Following their 2-2 tie with Burney, Jose Mourinho pointed to the difference in spending power between Manchester United and Manchester City.

“One thing is a big club and another thing is a big football team. They are two different things,” he said. “We are in the second year of trying to rebuild a football team that is not one of the best teams in the world. Manchester City buy full-backs for the price of strikers. When you speak about big football clubs, you are speaking about the history of the club.”

A reporter pointed out that United has invested nearly £300 million since taking over.

“It is not enough. And the price for the big clubs, the price for the big clubs is different from the other clubs. So the big, historical clubs are normally punished in the market for that history.

“When you tell [describe] a club like Manchester United, do you think Milan is not as big as us? You think they are not as big as we are? Do you think Real Madrid are not as big as we are? You think Inter Milan is not as big as we are? There are many big clubs and you say big clubs, I know what is a big club.”

City spent £130 million on the defenders Benjamin Mendy, Kyle Walker and Danilo in the summer, while United paid more than £140 million for Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic and Victor Lindelof.