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SHANGHAI. — Jose Mourinho has warned Juventus that Manchester United will look at other options if they continue to drag their heels over the Paul Pogba deal.
United remain confident of landing Pogba in a world record £100million deal, but Mourinho said he has two other targets for his position and could switch to them if Juventus continue to stall.
Those two targets are understood to be Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic and Paris St Germain’s Blaise Matuidi, with Mourinho turning up the heat on Juve to try to get the deal over the line.
“We know the profile of the player we want and we have three faces that fit that profile,” said Mourinho.
“I’m really confident Mr Woodward (United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward) and the owners can get the profile of the player I think the squad needs.”
Mourinho, speaking in Shanghai on United’s pre-season tour of China, said he was unable to confirm whether a deal had been agreed in principle for Pogba.
But the United boss did say he was confident of completing the final “25 per cent” of his transfer business this summer, with Pogba poised to return to Old Trafford having left in 2012.
The Special One is, however, refusing to count his chickens despite agreeing a fee with Juve and concluding Pogba’s personal terms, explaining that he and the United board are remaining calm and have every confidence his master plan will finally be achieved.
Speaking about Pogba’s transfer, Mourinho said: “I don’t confirm and I don’t deny. I cannot tell. First of all because I think it’s correct to speak about players from other clubs. He’s a Juventus player, not a Manchester United player.
“The only thing I can say is that my board, my directors, did a fantastic job to do 75 per cent of the job I asked them to do.
“I asked them for four profiles of players, I gave them a few options and they did for me 75 per cent of the job and we just have 25 per cent to do before August 31.
“So we are in a great position to do what I consider will be a great market for us.” — The Mirror-The Sun.
Online Reporter