Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has explained why he will not be willing to sign another forward player in the summer transfer window after bringing in Alexis Sanchez. The news is a big blow to the Red Devils who were linked with a lot of star players in Europe.
The Portuguese boss was involved in a sensational deal with his bitter rival Arsene Wenger where a swap deal saw United gain Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez and Arsenal got Armenian superstar Henrikh Mkhitaryan. However, during the game against Tottenham, Mourinho’s Red Devils succumbed to a 2-0 loss at Wembley despite starting Sanchez, who made his debut in the Premier League for the Mancunians.
Speaking through after his side won against Huddersfield Town on Saturday, Mourinho was asked about the different positions Sanchez took up on the pitch, including playing as a centre-forward, he replied, “Exactly that is the point, that is the objective. The objective is that now we have more number nines [in the side].”
Mourinho admitted that is side need to be more dynamic, with forward players adapting to play anywhere in the front-line.
“We have Alexis, Lukaku, Martial, Rashford. Rashford can play on the left and the right, Alexis is exactly the same. All of them apart from Lukaku can play from behind as the second striker. That is why I say that it is bad for you because you like to have things to write and speculate, especially in the summer, but I do not want attacking players. So do not speak about attacking players that are coming here because nobody is coming here.” He mentioned.
“But attacking players I am really happy. We have to improve not in the quality of the players, we have to improve in the dynamic of the team and in the efficiency because even [Saturday] it is a game to score more goals than two. [For] speculation in the summer you have to go to other areas,” added the former Inter Milan and Chelsea manager.
United were linked with a potential move for a number of world-class forwards in the likes of Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale, Atletico Madrid’s Antonine Griezmann, Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic and so on, but it seems to be cleared up that Mourinho is very pleased with the strike force he has at his disposal.
Not to forget, Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata, who can also support the attack in different ways from a winger’s position or from the centre of the pitch, to add more threat to opposing defenses. And with Paul Pogba operating in the heart of United’s engine, they can seem to take down any team.
United have already spent a lot on their attack force and have arguably the best goalkeeper in the world, but one area of concern that Mourinho may have to take into consideration is the defensive issues, including the wing-backs as he prefers playing Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young, who aren’t naturals in that position.
Could Jose be telling the truth? that he won’t spend in the summer window? or will he pull off another one of his masterstrokes?