United boss Mourinho to be given £100m to spend in January

Manchester United will grant Manager Jose Mourinho his wish by handing him £100m to strengthen his squad in the January transfer window.

The manager wants a central defender and a goalscoring forward after trying unsuccessfully to sign one of each in the summer.

More than £100m will be made available. Mourinho was interested in Real Madrid’s Raphael Varane before the start of the season and United were prepared to pay that level of money for the 25-year-old, had the transfer been possible.

The same degree of finance remains.

Leicester City’s Harry Maguire and Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng were two other Mourinho targets at center-back but United declined to pursue them as the board did not believe either was an upgrade.

This caused the manager some disquiet and it is understood he will be supported in the winter window should a player who can improve the squad become available.

However, a renewed effort to land Spurs center-back Toby Alderweireld could be on the cards with the Belgian in the last six months of his contract.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy will be seeking to get the highest price for the Belgian, mindful of the fact that an automatic one-year summer extension also triggers a £25million release clause.