Jose Mourinho will meet with Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward this week where his January transfer budget is expected to be confirmed.will he get what he wants?
Mourinho endured a difficult summer in the transfer market with reported moves for Diego Godin, Toby Alderweireld, Jerome Boateng, Yerry Mina and Harry Maguire all either failing to get over the line or being vetoed by Woodward and the United board.
The two men had been scheduled to meet last week to discuss the club’s transfer plans for January, but that was cancelled at the last minute by Woodward due to unforeseen circumstances – much to the United manager’s frustration.
However, according to Metro, that meeting is now scheduled to take place at Carrington on Thursday evening and ahead of the trip down to face Bournemouth on Saturday lunchtime.
And according to the paper, Woodward will inform Mourinho that he will be handed £75million to spend during the winter window – an amount that will present the United manager with an unwelcome dilemma.
According to reports, Mourinho had hoped to sign both a central defender and a right-back during January – Real Madrid’s Alvaro Odriozola being the latest name to be linked – but the £75million budget may only allow room for one transfer addition.
That could mean the United manager may have to offload at least one squad man in order to boost his kitty and sign the two men he believes can reinforce United’s backline, which has struggled on occasions this season.
United have shipped 17 goals in their opening 10 Premier League matches and took until January 31 last season to concede the same amount.Mourinho even admitted after the 2-1 win over Everton on Sunday that keeping a clean sheet appeared to be beyond his side this season.
Fiorentina’s Nikola Milenkovic has come under his radar, while Milan Skriniar and Alessio Romagnoli have also been linked – but the Times reported recently how Mourinho had begged the club to sanction a move for a certain Napoli star, whom would blow his entire budget in one fell swoop.