Mourinho asks Man Utd to sanction £140m double transfer swoop
Jose Mourinho has reportedly asked Manchester United to back him financially and put up the money needed to sign two of his top targets in the January transfer window.
The under-fire United manager appears to have dodged the bullet as far as his immediate future at Old Trafford is concerned – despite reports on Friday evening that the club had turned their focus towards Massimiliano Allegri.
Mourinho held a meeting on his future with Ed Woodward in London in midweek, where it is believed he asked United’s executive vice-chairman to stump up the funds to sign two January targets.
Mourinho then jetted to Montenegro to check on Sergej Milinkovic-Savic in action for his country, Serbia – and now reports claim the United boss wants to seal a club-record £100m deal for one of those when the transfer window reopens.
United saw an £80m bid knocked back last summer, and while the player has since signed a new deal with Lazio, he remains very much on Mourinho’s wishlist.
According to The Sun, Lazio could sell the the midfielder for a fee of around €110m (£96.8m), which would break the fee United paid for Paul Pogba back in 2016.
It’s claimed Mourinho’s relationship with the player’s agent Mateja Kezman could also help swing the deal United’s way.
United are reportedly leading Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid in the race to sign Benfica left-back Alex Grimaldo, who is rated in the €50m (£44m) bracket.
The 23-year-old is regarded as one of the top young defensive talents in European football, having moved to the Portuguese outfit for just €2.6million from Barca back in 2016.
The Spain Under-21 star made 92 league appearances for Barcelona B before heading to Benfica, where he has established himself as aruably Portuguese football’s top left-back.
A report in Il Corriere Dello Sport claims that the La Liga duo are keen on landing the defender, but that United stand more of a chance of getting their man due to political issues at Real and Barca.
It is said that Real’s relationship with Benfica is still strained after the transfer of Ezequiel Garay to the Bernabeu back in 2011, while Barca’s hierarchy reportedly fear the reaction of their supporters to potentially re-signing a player for big money that they let go on the cheap two years ago.
That leaves United in a strong position to snap up Grimaldo, who Jose Mourinho is known to be a big admirer of, and a bid could be made in January as the Red Devils chief continues not to be fully convinced by current left-back options Luke Shaw and Ashley Young.
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