Paper Talk: Mourinho had deal for Juve star agreed before United sacking

Jose Mourinho had green lighted two January transfer arrivals in the days before his sacking at Manchester United, while Arsenal and Chelsea are battling one another to sign a £124m-rated attacking duo, according to Wednesday’s newspapers.

 

UNITED HAD DONE DEAL TO SIGN DOUGLAS COSTA BEFORE MOURINHO SACK

Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward had reportedly lined up Juventus star Douglas Costa before axing Jose Mourinho, according to reports on Wednesday.

The Daily Mirror claims United had finally agreed to meet Mourinho’s long-standing request to add another winger to his frontline – and that Brazilian forward Costa was the man the club had already lined up.

Mourinho regularly clashed with United’s board over signings and their failure to land Ivan Perisic in summer 2017 was one of the Portuguese’s major irks during his time in charge.

However, the paper claims the club were ready to sign both Costa, who has fallen down the pecking order at Juventus since Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival in the summer, and a major central defender in order to satisfy Mourinho’s demands.

It is understood both potential deals were given the green light by Mourinho, who had learnt of the proposed signings in the days before his sacking.

And while Mourinho has now been sacked, it remains to be seen whether the club will still press ahead with these plans in January.

The club are soon expected to announce an interim replacement for Mourinho, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer favourite for the role.

 

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AND THE REST

Mauricio Pochettino wants to be considered for the Manchester United manager’s job but Tottenham are prepared to fight to keep the Argentine (The Times)

If the move for Pochettino fails, United will go for Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone (The Times)

Manchester United will have to pay Tottenham £34m in compensation to hire manager Mauricio Pochettino (The Independent)

Manchester United have also targeted Paul Mitchell – who worked with Pochettino at Southampton and Spurs before going to RB Leipzig – to become director of football in their new management structure (Daily Star)

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has claimed Manchester United made a £95m bid for centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly (Daily Express)

Chelsea are set to bid £70m for Real Madrid superstar Isco as Arsenal and Manchester City also consider a move (Daily Express)

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Arsenal and Chelsea are targeting £54m Roma star Cengiz Under in the January transfer window (Daily Express)

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe is Tottenham’s No 1 target if they fail to persuade Mauricio Pochettino to reject Manchester United (Daily Mail)

Fulham goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli is being monitored by Southampton ahead of the January transfer window (Daily Mail)

Paul Pogba will be fined by Manchester United after a post – which was construed by many as welcoming Mourinho’s dismissal – appeared on his social media accounts shortly after the news broke (Daily Mail)

Paul Pogba high-fived Manchester United team-mates in their training ground dressing room after they were told of Jose Mourinho’s sacking (Daily Mirror)

Former Real Madrid defender Pepe could make a surprise move from Besiktas to Wolves in January (Daily Mirror)

Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Adrien Rabiot has agreed a transfer to Barcelona, according to reports in France (Daily Mirror)

Alvaro Morata would ‘return to Italy in a heartbeat’ as a move to AC Milan is reportedly on the cards (The Sun)

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Manchester United are prepared to pay £40m in compensation to Tottenham to prise Maurico Pochettino away to Old Trafford (The Sun)

Paul Pogba has cancelled his plans to leave Manchester United after Jose Mourinho’s sacking (The Sun)

Jose Mourinho’s 895-day stay at The Lowry hotel in Salford cost Manchester United a total of £537,000 (The Guardian)