Jose Mourinho draws up five-man wishlist as Manchester United close on both Alvaro Morata and Andrea Belotti
A deal for Victor Lindelof is all but done while the Portuguese also plans to bring in Ivan Perisic of Internazionale and defensive midfielder Fabinho of Monaco
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United are hopeful of doing a double striker deal for Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata and Torino’s Andrea Belotti in the next two weeks, after agreeing terms with the Spanish striker and submitting a bid of around £70m for Belotti.
Manager Jose Mourinho has been keen to completely upgrade his forward line, especially with the anticipated departures of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney, and The Independent understands that the Portuguese has decided to press away with trying to sign two forwards - as well as three other players.
United in the end agreed personal terms with Morata “very quickly”, and are now hopeful that they can secure the signing of the player for a fee of around £60m.
Real have been insisting on a fee of £78m but, given that they want to press ahead with upgrading their own forward line with the pursuit of Monaco’s Kylian Mbappe, there is a belief at Old Trafford that figure will come down.
Morata himself is said to be hugely excited at the idea of coming to United and the Premier League, and is cold on the idea of returning to Serie A with AC Milan, having previously played for Juventus.
United have at the same time made a bid of £70m for Belotti, despite Torino also having insisted on a figure that matches the 23-year-old’s buy-out clause of £84m. The Old Trafford hierarchy however an idea of what they think the Serie A club will accept.
Mourinho wants the club to get a flurry of these key deals done quickly so he can begin planning for the season, and Benfica’s Swedish centre-half Victor Lindelof is now fully expected to join United after this international break.
Progress has also been made with defensive midfielder Fabinho of Monaco, while the Portuguese also plans to bring in Ivan Perisic of Internazionale, although there a difference of over £15m between United’s offering price and the £50m the Milanese club are asking.
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