Manchester United under massive pressure to win league, says Dirk Kuyt

Former Liverpool midfielder Dirk Kuyt, who currently plays for Manchester United's Europa League opponents Feyenoord, believes that the Red Devils will be under massive pressure to win the league this season, given they have Jose Mourinho as their manager and have spent a massive amount of money in the transfer window. United lost to Manchester City last weekend and Kuyt believes that the result will only increase the pressure on them to live up to expectations.

Kuyt, who featured in a lot of games against United with arch rivals Liverpool, believes that the Premier League is still the most difficult league in the world, with the amount of competition at the top and bottom of the table. The Dutchman revealed that he still follows Liverpool's games as much as he can and has fond memories with Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, who have both left Anfield.

"I think they are under enormous pressure, because everyone wants them to win the league. Everyone can see what it did to the team when they lost to City at the weekend, already there is more pressure on the team, although the teams in the Premier League have difficulties in challenging the teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich," Kuyt said, as quoted by the Mirror.

Meanwhile, United made a few major changes to the squad for their first group game of the Europa League, with Wayne Rooney being dropped for the fixture by Mourinho. Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jesse Lingard are also out, with Mourinho stating that he does not want to concentrate on Europe, as it will hinder their progression in the league.

"This is not a competition that Manchester United wants. It is not a competition I want, it is not a competition the players want," Mourinho said, as quoted by the Guardian. "It is a competition where we are and that's the reality. Tomorrow is an important match for us. We must find that motivation that I found myself already and I have to pass that motivation on to the players because I know the Europa League is not the big dream of every big player," he added.