José Mourinho insists he knows who will be the victims of his continued clear-out at Manchester United, and has planned their replacements already.

This summer, like the one before it and the two before that, will be busy for the Reds. The international break brought about an early silly season as Mourinho was linked with Barcelona's Neymar and David de Gea's future was apparently decided, the Spaniard returning home to Real Madrid according to reports.

Mourinho has already ridiculed those Neymar rumours, though was not questioned on de Gea's future. However, he did confirm that his transfer plans this summer are ready.

Mourinho ready for "easier" second season

Speaking ahead of United's home game against West Bromwich Albion, Mourinho insisted that "the second season is one where the manager knows everything about his players."

With a season under his belt at Old Trafford, the routine will be more familiar, the squad will be tighter, the style of play more fluent. Mourinho described the second season as "easier". The Portuguese has often flourished in his second seasons at clubs, winning the La Liga title in his second at Real Madrid and the Premier League title at Chelsea again in his second season.

Mourinho knows who will be going

"I know the players I want, the players I don't want," Mourinho explained.

The strongest links regarding United's summer business have been with Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba's France teammate and good friend. While big signings will be a key trend this summer for the Portuguese boss, he'll also a key challenge in offloading a number of players not up to United's standards.

In that pre-match press conference, Mourinho confirmed Phil Jones and Chris Smalling both had long-term injuries after international duty with England. It's quite possible both will have played their last games for the club, particularly Jones who, after a good spell without injury, has a remarkably bad record for injuring both himself and other players.

Even since last summer, Mourinho has sold Morgan Schneiderlin, Memphis Depay and Bastian Schweinsteiger as he thins down his squad to a key core.