Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has suggested that Ronald Koeman's comments regarding Memphis Depay were 'unethical'.
The Everton boss confirmed his interest in the out-of-favour United winger during the international break amid speculation linking the Toffees with a January move.
However, Mourinho believes that Koeman should have played down the rumours out of respect for the player being an employee of United.
"I prefer not to make [a response to Koeman's comments]. I prefer not to make," he told reporters.
"I think that my normal answer if somebody asks me about a player from another team, my normal [answer] is 'the player is not my player, the player belongs to another team, the player belongs to another manager, no comments at all'.
"I think that is the ethical [answer] and when we are always worried about ethics and respect, and rules, I just said that if it was me making that kind of comment about an Everton player, I would be in trouble."
Depay has made only one competitive start for Mourinho so far and has been on the field for just 20 minutes in the Premier League this season.