Jose Mourinho thinks Manchester United have signed a 'genius' in Nemanja Matic

The Serbian played his first 45 minutes of preseason during the 2-1 win over Sampdoria

Matic started the game in Dublin and impressed in the holding role (Getty)

Manchester United have signed a “genius” in Nemanja Matic, believes Jose Mourinho, after the midfielder made his debut against Sampdoria on Wednesday evening.

The £40m signing from Chelsea started the 2-1 win in Dublin, United’s final preseason game before the Uefa Super Cup against Real Madrid on Tuesday, and impressed in the holding role as the likes of Paul Pogba and Andreas Pereira marauded forward at will.

However, having been left out of the Blues’ preseason tour of Asia, Matic was severely lacking match fitness and only managed 45 minutes, something Mourinho admitted needed to be improved before the start of the Premier League season.

“He needs time but (his) experience, intelligence, a genius in the way he thinks - he thinks football,” Mourinho said.

“We will help him to be ready sooner rather than later.”

As well as Matic, fellow new signings Victor Lindelof and Romelu Lukaku also started the game at the Aviva Stadium as Mourinho started to shape his starting XI for the start of the season.

The Independent revealed this week that Mourinho still wanted another three signings but he insisted that the club had already done a “fantastic job” of delivering three of his four priority signings.

“To get three out of four I thank the club for that,” he added. “I will be happier if they get me four of four but they did a great effort for me.”