Report reveals Mourinho turned down dream Woodward target to sign Fred

Former Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho ignored Ed Woodward’s advice and chose to sign Fred over Paris Saint-Germain’s Marco Verratti, according to a report.

Fred was brought in from Shakhtar Donetsk for £52m last summer, as United‘s spending in the summer transfer window reached £72.5m with the additions of Diogo Dalot and Lee Grant.

The Red Devils failed to gel under Mourinho last season, however, and the Portuguese was sacked in December with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer brought in to replace him.

According to the Manchester Evening News, though, things could have turned out differently for Mourinho if he had gone with Ed Woodward’s transfer advice.

 

 

The newspaper says that United’s executive vice-chairman wanted Verratti and Real Madrid’s Raphael Varane at Old Trafford last summer but Mourinho believed the club would struggle to bring in such talent.

Verratti signed a new deal with PSG last week while Frenchman Varane is under contract in the Spanish capital until the end of the 2021/22 season.

United did end up bringing in a midfield target following Fred’s arrival but a marquee defensive addition only came this summer, when Harry Maguire was signed from Leicester.

Read more: Schweinsteiger urges former Bayern teammate to make Man Utd move