SHANGHAI // Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho acknowledged Thursday the club needs one more signing before the season starts but would not confirm it would be record target Paul Pogba.
Media reports in England suggested United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward had pulled out of the club’s pre-season tour to China so he could meet and agree personal terms with Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola.
Mourinho was asked directly at a news conference in Shanghai yesterday whether he could confirm the reports.
See also:
• Reports: Juventus star Paul Pogba set for nine-figure bid from Manchester United
• Paul Pogba agent: 'Maybe he will not leave Juventus' dampening Manchester United hopes
“I don’t confirm and I don’t deny. I cannot tell you,” Mourinho said on the eve of the International Champions Cup match against Borussia Dortmund in Shanghai on Friday.
“I don’t think it’s correct to speak about players of other clubs, and he’s a Juventus player and not a Manchester United player.
“The only thing I can tell you is that my board, my directors they did fantastic work to do 75 per cent of the job I asked them to do,” said Mourinho.
“I asked them for four players. To be more accurate I asked them for four or five players I need.
“I gave them a few options and they did for me 75 per cent of the job with [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, [Henrikh] Mikitharyan and [Eric] Bailly and they have just 25 per cent to do until the 31st of August.”
Mourinho has reportedly made French international Pogba his top transfer target as he bids to make a big impact in his first season at Old Trafford but it could cost the club a record-breaking £100 million (Dh484.7m) to land the midfielder.
Mourinho has already spent more than £50m on defender Bailly from Villarreal and midfielder Mkhitaryan from today's opponents Dortmund, as well as recruiting Ibrahimovic, who left Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer.
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