Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho warns he is not prepared to pay over the odds for transfer targets

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Jose Mourinho has warned that Manchester United will not pay over the odds for new players and is prepared to sacrifice one of his transfer targets this summer.

United have already spent more than £100million on Romelu Lukaku and Victor Lindelof, but are haggling with Inter Milan over £48m-rated Ivan Perisic.

Mourinho also wants a defensive midfielder with Tottenham's Eric Dier, Nemanja Matic of Chelsea and Roma's Radja Nanggolan on his list of targets.

Jose Mourinho has warned Manchester United will not be held to ransom on transfer fees

United have recently signed striker Romelu Lukaku for £75million from Everton

Their only other addition is £35m defender Victor Lindelof (third left) from Benfica

But he is refusing to be held to ransom and is ready to accept signing a total of three rather than four players before the transfer window closes.

Mourinho said: 'Everybody knows because I told that I would like four players, and I'm ready to go from four to three because the market is difficult.

'Some clubs think the market is different from others. We are not a club that is ready to pay what the clubs want us to pay so I'm ready to go from four to three.

'The problem is we have four players (Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw and Ashley Young), that cannot play football now. Not even training. So it looks like our group is big, but it is not and the time for their recovery is really long. Marcos no chance before December as an example, so our squad is not so big.'

Ahead of the Manchester derby in Houston, Mourinho was asked if he was surprised by Manchester City's willingness to pay £50m for Tottenham defender Kyle Walker.

United have been strongly linked with Inter Milan midfielder Ivan Perisic 

Tottenham midfielder Eric Dier is also a target but could cost United around £50m

The United boss accepts that clubs have more financial muscle to resist bids for their players and are inflating the prices.

'The transfer fees don't surprise me, really,' he added. 'I kept saying there is big economic power at every club. It allows clubs to say no. To say 'pay what I want or you don't get it'.

‘I can imagine City would like to pay £25m for Kyle but they were told that was the price. The option is to pay or not. I am used to club paying big amounts for big players. Now everybody pays big amounts for good players. There is a difference between good players and big players. 

‘Now the figures go really crazy for normal players.’ 

Having switched his interest in Alvaro Morata to sign Romelu Lukaku ahead of Chelsea for £75m, Mourinho is not surprised to see his old club set up a £58m deal with Real Madrid for Morata following manager Antonio Conte's decision to offload Diego Costa.

'I'm not interested in what Chelsea does, really,' said Mourinho. 'Chelsea it was obvious they were going to sign a striker after the situation with the manager and striker (Costa).

Mourinho hailed new addition Lukaku, saying that the striker has 'amazing qualities' 

'We needed a striker. So, yes, we needed with Zlatan in his best conditions, we needed one to give cover and options. Him and Marcus were not enough, especially after the (Ibrahimovic's knee) injury.

'We got a big player, a player that I can compare with what he was a few years ago, because he worked with me for a few months and his development was very good.

'We have a player who is now a top player. You have to prove it at the highest level, he has to do it for United, in Champions League matches but he has amazing qualities.'