Manchester United still need two more signings this summer, says boss Jose Mourinho - as he refuses to comment on pursuit of Chelsea's Nemanja Matic
- Manchester United have made signing a defensive midfielder a summer priority
- Jose Mourinho wants two more signings and has eyed Chelsea's Nemanja Matic
- United have spent £106m to bring in Romelu Lukaku and Victor Lindelof already
- Mourinho also opened the door for a potential return for Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Jose Mourinho wants two more signings at Manchester United this summer but is refusing to be drawn on a £34million move for Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic.
United have spent £106million so far on striker Romelu Lukaku and centre back Victor Lindelof, but Mourinho is known to be frustrated that Old Trafford chief Ed Woodward has not delivered more signings before the club left on tour for America.
A defensive midfielder is a priority and United have been linked with Tottenham's Eric Dier, Tiemoue Bakayoko of Monaco, Roma star Radja Nainggolan and Matic.
Jose Mourinho wants two players to add to his £106m summer spend at Manchester United
United have targeted Nemanja Matic but Mourinho would not speak on his former midfielder
Bakayoko's imminent move to Chelsea will push Matic closer to the exit at Stamford Bridge, with Juventus and Inter Milan also being linked with the Serbia international who has been left off the club's pre-season tour of China.
United know it will be difficult to do business with the Premier League champions after they hijacked Lukaku's move to Stamford Bridge last week, and Mourinho was careful not to antagonise his old club any further.
'I can't say any word about a player who is a Chelsea player,' he said. 'It's difficult. I have to respect the player, the club, the owner, the manager. I don't want to be disrespectful.
'We don't have our door closed. We are not happy with just Lukaku and Lindelof, we need more. We wanted four, so I would say 50 per cent of the job is done, but I don't want to say that because everything is so difficult.
'I would not like to be in Ed Woodward's position negotiating because everything is really difficult. So maybe we don't get two, we get one. But we need one more to give us more options.
'We have players that belong to the squad but cannot play for the next few months – (Marcos) Rojo, (Ashley) Young, (Luke) Shaw and if Zlatan (Ibrahimovic) stays. We need two more players, I would say. At least one but I don't want to say Matic or any other name because I don't think it's correct.'
United have already signed Victor Lindelof and Romelu Lukaku (background, left)
Mourinho adopted a similar stance on Alvaro Morata after United dropped their interest in the £79m-rated Real Madrid striker when it became clear that Lukaku's move to Old Trafford was on.
He added: 'I don't like to speak about players who aren't ours, because Morata is not our player. I am nobody to speak about players from Real Madrid.
'Yes, we have had interest, that is obvious and it's public. We have not come to an economic agreement, that is obvious as well. But it's a Real Madrid's right to ask for their players the amount of money that they want.
Mourinho adopted a similar stance on Alvaro Morata to the one he took over Chelsea's Matic
'We do not determine what the price is of a player of Real Madrid, Real Madrid do that. And we didn't arrive at an agreement with Real Madrid.
'I do not criticise Madrid and I am not going to criticise my board because my board has made the offer. They have tried to reach an agreement during a time, and they didn't come to an agreement. It's simple.'
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