Jose Mourinho has confirmed Manchester United could have signed Portuguese starlet Renato Sanches had they appointed him sooner, writes Samuel Luckhurst in the Manchester Evening News.
Reports suggested former boss Louis van Gaal did not want the 18-year-old midfielder, but the MEN revealed that was a smokescreen.
The club refused to publicly undermine van Gaal and could have signed him a week before he completed a move to Bayern Munich.
It is understood signing Sanches would have all but confirmed the club's intentions to replace van Gaal with Mourinho.
Mourinho told Sport TV: "I arrived late. I signed in May, we started talking a week before, but completely out of the process. If I had arrived earlier, I’d fight for him.
“Manchester United watched Renato many times and maybe I did it even more. In so much time at home, I watched many Benfica and Portuguese league games, I got to know the boy better with time.
“He’s in a a big club, in a league where he’ll certainly be the champion. The club have players of very high level which belong to the structure, a little like Benfica.”
Mourinho was keen for United to sign Renato Sanches but it is understood the club dithered over concluding a deal out of the fear it would have confirmed Louis van Gaal's protracted departure.
Woodward sent scouts to extensively monitor Portugal midfielder Sanches before he joined Bayern from Benfica on May 10.
Sanches shone at Euro 2016 and was named Best Young Player as Portugal won their first major trophy in France.