Man Utd transfer targets: Jose Mourinho wants three or four signings
Last updated on .From the section Football
Manchester United are likely to limit their summer spending to three or four key signings.
United will be in the Champions League and boss Jose Mourinho said executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has had his targets "for more than two months".
Mourinho wants to enhance his forward and defensive options to challenge for the Premier League title next season.
United have been linked with Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann and Burnley centre-back Michael Keane.
"Ed Woodward has my list," the Portuguese manager said after his side beat Ajax to win the Europa League for the first time on Wednesday.
"Now it's up to him and the owners."
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Mourinho's targets
Griezmann has a 100m euro release clause in his contract and the 26-year-old France international said earlier this week that his chances of joining United were "six out of 10".
Since then, a major stumbling block has been removed by United securing the return of Champions League football. They will go straight into the group stage after their victory over Ajax in Stockholm.
Griezmann has the pace and trickery United lack but, should a move falter, Torino forward Andrea Belotti is another option. The 23-year-old Italy international has scored 25 goals in Serie A this season.
Keane, meanwhile, left United for Burnley in January 2015 but Mourinho is known to be eager to bring the 24-year-old defender back to Old Trafford.
The Portuguese views predecessor Louis van Gaal's decision to sell the centre-back for £2m as a mistake and believes his central defensive options are limited.
In theory, a 25% sell-on clause agreed at the time of that deal should bring the price down. However, Burnley manager Sean Dyche has said the Clarets have no financial need to sell Keane, who made his England debut in March.
Prior to the January transfer window, United showed interest in Benfica's Sweden centre-back Victor Lindelof, 22, while left-back is another area of weakness.
Have United got money to spend?
Earning Champions League football means United have avoided the potential loss of £50m in sponsorship income and prize money.
However, one senior club source said the forthcoming transfer window was likely to be "crazy", given the increased spending power within the Premier League as a result of the new £8.3bn TV deal and clubs such as Inter Milan and AC Milan willing to spend big to try to rediscover former glories.
A year ago, Mourinho marked his first summer at Old Trafford by bringing in striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, defender Eric Bailly and midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan by the first week in July, before midfielder Paul Pogba re-signed from Juventus for a world record £89m in early August.
In December, BBC Sport was told the United manager felt he needed at least two more transfer windows to shape his squad.
Mourinho decided not to buy in January, but since then Ibrahimovic and defender Marcos Rojo have suffered cruciate knee-ligament injuries which will keep them out until next year and former Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has left for Major League Soccer in the United States.
United went on to finish sixth in the Premier League which, apart from the disastrous campaign under David Moyes in 2013-14, was their lowest placing since 1991.
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i will hold off moaning about them till next season.
Brilliant, just what the game needed......... I like watching football as much as the next guy, but surely this absurd bubble has to burst at some point? I'll be sure to grab the popcorn when it does!
Barcelona spend a fortune
PSG spend a fortune
Chelsea spend a fortune
Man City spend a fortune
Even Liverpool spent a fortune
Yet it seems it bothers people far more when Manchester United spend money they have actually earnt.
"Jose can only buy success"
"United spend too much money"
"United only win trophies playing boring football"
I am guessing most, if not all, of these comments are made from fans of teams that win nothing and of teams that cant attract the big players so all that's left is to whinge about the clubs that can.
You talk some rubbish. We were mediocre in the 70s/80s, Ferguson spent less in total than Liverpool in his first 5 years. Newcastle and Blackburn were the highest spending clubs of the 90s - Alan Shearer cost Newcastle more than the entire Man Utd team at the time.
You make me laugh. Real hard.
Utd players this season who came through the youth team:
Lingard, Rashford, Fosu-Mensah, Mitchell, Tuanzebe, McTominay, Pereira, Borthwick-Jackson, Harrop and Gomes.
City players this season who came through the youth team:
Iheanacho
Sure, only a couple of the Utd guys are from Manchester, but they're still all kids who have come through the clubs youth system.
(From A Neutral)
~CXCVI
At least Man Utd spend their money legitimately.
And what's with this 'buying success' thing? I mean can I just remind you where Man City were before these Arabs got in?