Ben Guest
Jose Mourinho will demand that Manchester United sign another four new players this summer according to recent reports.
Having beaten Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Liverpool in the last few weeks, Manchester United were brought back down to earth with a bang this week, suffering a shock defeat to Sevilla in the UEFA Champions League.
While Mourinho is thought to have made his transfer demands to Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward a number of weeks ago, that defeat on Tuesday night has only strengthened his intent to improve his side once again.
The Independent’s chief football writer Miguel Delaney claims that the Portuguese has demanded four new players, while also claiming seven players could make way.
Michael Carrick is set to retire, while Marouane Fellaini is expected to leave the club on a free transfer. Several of the clubs fringe players have also been linked with a departure, including Matteo Darmian, Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo, Phil Jones – to name but a few.
As a replacement, Mourinho wants to bring in a new central defender to partner first choice centre back Eric Bailly, with Barcelona’s Samuel Umtiti and Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld high on his list of targets. Umtiti is available for around £50m thanks to a release clause in his current contract at Camp Nou, while Alderweireld is thought to be available for around £55m.
Jose is also keen to add at least one central midfielder to his squad, with PSG’s Marco Verratti the latest name to have been linked, while Toni Kroos is also high on the wish list. United have also been linked with the likes of Arturo Vidal, Jorginho, Jean Michel Seri and Sergej Milkinkovic-Savic.
Meanwhile, United have been linked with wanting to sign a new left-back, with a potential player-plus-cash deal including Matteo Darmian for Juventus left-back Alex Sandro.