Mourinho: Rome was not built in a day

Cape Town - Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho believes a change in mentality and performance will not happen overnight but is happy with the progress he's seen.

Since arriving in Manchester, the former Chelsea boss has made huge strides, specifically in the transfer market with the arrivals of Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly.

All four summer signings have made an immediate impact on the first team but the 2-1 derby day loss to Manchester City over the weekend has somewhat dampened the rising spirits at the Red Devils.

Nonetheless, Mourinho is confident the Red Devils are heading in the right direction as he targets UEFA Champions League qualification this season.

"The Champions League without Manchester United is not the Champions League and Manchester United without the Champions League is not Manchester United," he told Goal. "So this is the first big step.

"But to get back to the Champions League we need to do well in the Premier League, so the first step is to recover the self-esteem, which I think we are doing."

"I have a very positive feeling," he added. "Rome was not built in one day and a football team is probably more difficult to build than Rome was."