New Manchester United's rise over the previous few seasons had already been extraordinary.
They had climbed through English football, won major domestic honours, retained the UEFA Cup and then captured the Premier League title. Even after Chelsea and Manchester City strengthened aggressively, Mourinho's side had followed that by winning the Champions League with a squad built around players the club had either developed itself or recruited at a very young age.
Had Chelsea not been so consistent, and had New Manchester United avoided their winter collapse, they might easily have retained the league as well.
Until now, critics could still explain much of that success through excellent recruitment and Mourinho's coaching.
The World Youth Championship made that argument considerably harder to sustain.
Of the ten players most frequently selected by journalists and analysts as the tournament's outstanding young prospects, six belonged to New Manchester United.
Messi.
Agüero.
Mikel.
Ishmael Miller.
Fàbregas.
Michael Johnson.
Messi won both the Golden Ball and Golden Boot.
Mikel took the Silver Ball.
Ishmael received the Bronze Ball.
Four of the tournament's most prestigious individual honours had gone to three players from the same club.
That inevitably produced a new round of headlines.
The World Youth Championship had always been regarded as a glimpse of football's next generation. Many of the game's greatest players had announced themselves on that stage before becoming household names at senior level.
If that was true, the newspapers asked, had New Manchester United already collected an unreasonable share of football's future?
The joke became even more tempting when journalists looked at the other highly rated players.
Taye Taiwo had been one of Nigeria's outstanding performers and had attracted major interest with his power, athleticism and spectacular shooting from distance.
He belonged to Accra Hearts of Oak, but New Manchester United's African scouting and development network knew him extremely well, and several clubs had already contacted people connected with Ethan's organisation for information about him.
One newspaper joked that phones across West Africa were probably ringing without interruption.
Spain's most impressive young players included Fàbregas and David Silva.
Fàbregas already belonged to New Manchester United.
Silva was at Real Madrid, and Ethan had personally recommended him to Florentino Pérez before the transfer.
Madrid regarded the young Spaniard as a possible long-term successor to Zidane.
Judging by his development, that expectation no longer looked unreasonable.
The Netherlands had produced Hedwiges Maduro, another player who attracted plenty of attention.
He came from Ajax, one of New Manchester United's closest development partners.
Maduro had not yet established himself as an automatic starter in Amsterdam and had spent much of the previous season appearing from the bench, but his performances at the tournament suggested considerable potential.
Brazil's campaign was less memorable.
Renato, a defensive midfielder from São Paulo, emerged as one of their better performers.
The tournament also strengthened a feeling that had been developing around Brazilian youth football for several years.
There was less of the completely uninhibited attacking play that had once defined their younger sides.
The team looked more structured and pragmatic.
Whether that represented progress or the loss of something distinctive depended on who was watching.
The media, however, cared less about the philosophical debate than about the pattern they had discovered.
Nearly every standout player seemed to have some direct or indirect connection with New Manchester United.
Ajax were partners.
The African development network overlapped with several of the players being discussed.
Real Madrid maintained a close relationship with Ethan.
São Paulo had regular dealings with the club's scouts.
The headline practically wrote itself.
NEW MANCHESTER UNITED ARE MONOPOLISING FOOTBALL'S FUTURE
Nobody serious believed it literally.
No club could monopolise the future.
Only eleven players could start a match.
Even a squad containing twenty-five world-class footballers could still lose.
Injuries happened.
Form disappeared.
Young talents failed to develop as expected.
Managers made mistakes.
That uncertainty was one of football's greatest attractions.
But newspapers were not in the business of ignoring a good story simply because the headline exaggerated the truth.
Once the World Youth Championship ended, New Manchester United dominated the coverage.
For several days, Chelsea's spending and Manchester City's transfer spree were pushed into the background.
The story spread from Europe into North America at exactly the moment the European champions were beginning their American tour.
Mark Davey's commercial department certainly did nothing to discourage the attention.
But even without deliberate promotion, the club was already operating at the height of its popularity.
The six players involved in the World Youth Championship were granted additional time off.
Messi, Agüero, Fàbregas, Ishmael, Michael Johnson and Mikel had all played a demanding international tournament, so Mourinho gave them another two weeks before requiring them to report for pre-season.
They would join the squad directly in the United States.
That left Mourinho with only nineteen senior players for the early stage of the tour.
It was not a problem.
At this point, most of the work was physical.
The coaching staff concentrated on restoring conditioning, rebuilding sharpness and gradually increasing training intensity.
Even so, Mourinho was already considering how the team might look once everyone returned.
Up front, the main competition remained between Drogba and Villa.
Drogba's finishing had improved significantly.
More importantly, his tactical value remained enormous.
He could occupy two centre-backs, receive direct passes under pressure, bring midfielders into play and create space for Kaká, Ronaldo and Messi.
That made him Mourinho's preferred striker in many of the most demanding matches.
Villa offered something different.
His movement was sharper.
His finishing was cleaner.
He attacked space behind the defence more naturally.
Mourinho trusted him completely, and there were matches where Villa's qualities made him the better choice.
Occasionally, both played together.
More often, Mourinho selected one according to the opposition.
Ishmael would return from the World Youth Championship with his reputation transformed.
He was only eighteen.
Five goals and the Bronze Ball had made him one of the most discussed young English forwards in Europe.
Mourinho had no intention of changing the development plan because of a successful summer tournament.
Drogba and Villa were still ahead of him.
Ishmael would receive cup matches, substitute appearances and selected league opportunities.
He would train with two elite strikers every day.
There was no reason to rush him.
On the left, Ronaldo's position was secure.
The Portuguese winger had improved every season since arriving.
His technique had become more efficient.
His physical development was obvious.
His acceleration and pace remained exceptional.
His finishing had improved dramatically.
He had even begun developing a dangerous free-kick technique.
The biggest difference, in Ethan's view, was psychological.
The Ronaldo he knew from his previous life had sometimes needed years to refine the balance between individual expression and collective responsibility.
At New Manchester United, that process had happened much earlier.
Part of it came from the environment.
Beckham demanded discipline.
Curtis was never shy about telling a teammate when he was being selfish.
Kaká, whom Ronaldo deeply respected, played almost entirely for the team.
Messi was close to Ronaldo personally and talented enough that neither could afford to treat the other as an inferior.
The competition kept everyone grounded.
Ronaldo might have been receiving slightly less individual attention than he had in Ethan's previous life at the same age.
As a player, however, Ethan believed he was already more complete.
The attacking relationship between Ronaldo, Kaká and Messi had been one of the main reasons New Manchester United recovered so strongly during the second half of the previous season.
For long stretches, Chelsea had looked uncatchable.
That trio nearly changed the title race.
Kaká remained the undisputed first choice behind the striker.
Agüero was viewed as his primary long-term alternative, but the Argentine was still developing.
The more interesting issue concerned Kaká himself.
The Lab had begun studying his movement and physical profile in greater detail.
His greatest weapon was his explosive acceleration through central areas.
Once Kaká opened his stride and attacked space, few midfielders in Europe could stay with him.
That style also placed enormous strain on the body.
Players who depended heavily on acceleration and repeated high-speed running often paid for it through injuries or shortened peaks.
The performance staff therefore wanted to broaden Kaká's game before age forced the change upon him.
More control through changes of tempo.
Better use of pauses.
Greater reliance on technique.
More creative passing from deeper positions.
Less need to solve every situation by accelerating directly through it.
The objective was not to take away his greatest strength.
It was to make sure he had alternatives.
A player who knew how to manipulate rhythm could remain elite long after a small percentage of his speed had disappeared.
Kaká was one of the priorities.
Robben was the other.
The Dutch winger's long injury had made the issue impossible to ignore.
After more than half a year of rehabilitation, Robben was finally healthy again.
He had barely taken a conventional summer holiday.
Instead, he returned early and spent much of the break following a specialised programme designed by The Lab.
Strength work.
Mobility.
Running mechanics.
Controlled acceleration.
Gradual ball work.
Every stage was monitored.
The club did not expect him to return immediately at his previous level.
After such a long absence, that would have been unrealistic.
What mattered was that he was fit, confident and progressing.
The coaching staff had given him complete support.
A performance specialist was assigned specifically to monitor his workload throughout pre-season.
Until Messi returned, Mourinho used the right flank to assess Robben and Ribéry.
Ribéry could operate on either side, although he was generally more dangerous cutting in from the left.
Dani Alves offered another possibility.
The Brazilian had been signed primarily as a right-back, but his attacking qualities were strong enough that Mourinho was already experimenting with him further forward in certain drills.
That could become useful against particular opponents.
Central midfield was far more settled.
Beckham remained one of the two deeper midfielders.
Essien and De Rossi competed for the place beside him.
That competition had existed for years.
Neither player viewed the other as a temporary obstacle.
Both were good enough to start for almost any club in Europe.
And both had repeatedly rejected outside interest.
Their value to Mourinho was nearly equal.
Essien offered extraordinary athletic coverage, ball-winning and powerful forward running.
De Rossi brought aggression, positional discipline and cleaner distribution.
Mourinho chose between them according to form, opposition and tactical requirements.
For a club competing across several competitions, having two midfielders of that level was not a luxury.
It was protection.
The long-term succession behind Beckham was more complicated.
Fàbregas was the most natural playmaking replacement.
Michael Johnson and Mikel were also highly regarded.
Beckham had turned thirty.
Nobody expected his level to collapse suddenly, but the club had already begun preparing for a future in which he could no longer play every important match.
The three younger midfielders offered very different solutions.
Michael Johnson had some of Beckham's vertical instincts.
He could drive through central areas, strike from distance and cover enormous ground.
His passing was improving quickly.
What he lacked was Beckham's consistency and experience in controlling an entire match.
Fàbregas was the more refined organiser.
His first touch was cleaner.
His passing angles were more sophisticated.
He understood rhythm naturally.
Even at his age, he could already recognise when a team needed to accelerate and when it needed to slow down.
Mikel was different again.
His technique was good.
His passing was secure.
Defensively, he had improved significantly.
But he did not read the attacking structure as instinctively as Fàbregas or Beckham.
The club increasingly saw him as a high-level holding midfielder who could protect space, intercept, circulate possession and cover laterally rather than as the primary creative controller.
There was no need to force all three into the same mould.
Their differences were useful.
The competition at left-back remained intense.
Lahm had become a Germany international and continued developing impressively.
Evra still held the starting place.
If anything, Lahm's pressure had improved him.
The Frenchman had become more consistent and more disciplined without losing his attacking threat.
Mourinho trusted both.
At right-back, Maicon entered the summer as the clear first choice.
His performances during the second half of the previous season had been excellent.
The major improvement was defensive.
Mourinho had always liked Maicon's physical qualities and attacking instincts.
Once his positioning became reliable, he overtook Kolo Touré and never gave the place back.
Dani Alves had arrived to challenge him.
In training, the difference between them was already obvious.
Alves was perhaps even quicker over short distances and technically more adventurous.
He wanted the ball constantly.
He combined naturally in tight spaces and attacked aggressively.
His defending was less secure.
His crossing could also be erratic.
But he was working on it.
Alves had begun spending extra time after training with Darren Lyons, whose playing career had ended but whose delivery from wide areas remained among the best at Newton Heath.
The Brazilian watched.
Asked questions.
Repeated the technique.
Then repeated it again.
Mourinho noticed.
So did Beckham.
At centre-back, the hierarchy remained familiar.
Terry.
Curtis.
Vidić.
Those were the three Mourinho trusted most.
Chiellini had improved considerably and had already attracted attention from several Italian clubs.
Juventus were watching him.
Roma were interested.
Inter had made enquiries.
AC Milan had previously tried to sign him and been rejected.
The Italian's problem was not talent.
It was consistency.
Terry, Curtis and Vidić had accumulated years of experience in high-pressure matches.
Even Curtis, despite his age, had already played so much senior football that his composure no longer resembled that of a young defender.
Chiellini was still learning when to attack the ball, when to hold position and when to play simply.
The club had briefly considered whether Thiago Silva could eventually occupy that role instead.
On pure potential, the Brazilian had become one of Europe's most highly rated young centre-backs.
But English registration and work-permit issues complicated the situation.
Dani Alves was the more practical player to bring into Mourinho's squad immediately.
Thiago Silva therefore moved to Milan, while Chiellini stayed.
In goal, there was no debate at all.
Petr Čech was the undisputed number one.
He had been named the Premier League's best goalkeeper in consecutive seasons and had been central to New Manchester United's Champions League triumph.
Almunia had left for Arsenal.
Kasey Keller had arrived as the experienced deputy.
The American understood the role from the beginning.
Čech had developed enormously under years of specialist coaching and Schmeichel's guidance.
Across Europe, he was increasingly being placed in the same conversation as Buffon and Casillas.
Some observers already considered him the more complete goalkeeper in certain areas.
Rankings were subjective.
Casillas played behind a Real Madrid defence that frequently left him exposed, giving him endless opportunities to make spectacular saves.
Buffon had maintained an extraordinary level for years and had already accumulated the reputation that came with being Juventus and Italy's number one.
Čech was still building that body of work.
Winning the Champions League had moved him closer.
Remaining at that level would matter more than any one season.
That was the broader strength of Mourinho's squad.
Chelsea were champions and had strengthened again.
Manchester City had spent heavily.
Arsenal were rebuilding.
Manchester United had added several players.
New Manchester United had sold Kolo Touré, recalled Dani Alves and otherwise kept the core almost completely intact.
They could afford to do that because the squad was already strong at virtually every position.
The first team had quality.
The bench had quality.
The youth system was producing more.
The club did not need a dramatic summer overhaul to remain competitive.
Mourinho liked it that way.
Continuity was an advantage.
Unfortunately, the first result of pre-season was about to remind everyone that even the strongest squad in Europe could still have an awkward beginning.
(To be continued.)