Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has insisted that a "wounded" Jose Mourinho is the ideal man to lead the club to silverware this coming season.

The Portuguese won his first game at the helm since being announced as new manager as the Red Devils battled to a 2-0 pre-season win over Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

Ferdinand is backing Mourinho to do what predecessors Louis van Gaal and David Moyes could not in mounting a title charge in the Premier League next term, using his disastrous campaign at Chelsea last season as motivation to go all the way.

"When you have a manager with Mourinho's ability, you always have a chance of winning the league," he is quoted as saying by Goal.com. "It's unheard of for Manchester United to be saying you want to finish in a Champions League position.

"In my days, the goal was to win the league. United got Mourinho at the best time possible. Winners are dangerous when they're wounded. He's focused. He has a lot of work to do at United, because they finished fifth last season and were not good enough to get into the Champions League."

United have won just one trophy - the FA Cup last season in Van Gaal's final game in charge - since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.