Mourinho ‘desperate’ for Man Utd to sign new midfielder

Oli Fisher
Jose Mourinho: Denied Smalling news

Jose Mourinho: Denied Smalling news

Jose Mourinho is looking to add to his Manchester United squad and sign a new holding midfielder, according to reports.

United failed to sign title-winner N’Golo Kante in the summer, with the former-Leicester man instead completing a move to Chelsea for a fee of £30m.

Marouane Fellaini, Ander Herrera and Paul Pogba have all been deployed in the deeper role by Mourinho so far this season, with mixed results.

Gary Neville insisted last week that Jose Mourinho must replace the aforementioned trio if he can’t get the best out of them.

“There is a lot of work to do for United, but as a United fan I am not alarmed,” Neville told Sky Sports.

“I thought that they would be better at the start of the season. Maybe that was a thought of Mourinho having a massive impact, but when you look at it [on Sunday], that’s not a Jose Mourinho team at all.

“He has got to work with them, he’s got to get more out of them. He can’t do anything over the next three months and it will be difficult in January.

“I have to say when I look at United I still don’t know what their best XI is. Mourinho is still early in his reign, he is identifying his best players, his best XI, his best partnerships.”

The Daily Mirror claim that the Portuguese boss is consequently eager to snap up a midfield ‘anchorman’, and is scouting for a similar type of player to Kante.

Despite having Michael Carrick, Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger, none of the trio have had much opportunity to prove their worth so far this season.