Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has three defenders on his wishlist if he fails to land a deal for Tottenham ace Toby Alderweireld.
The Express‘ interpretation of the Manchester Evening News latest piece on the Red Devils transfer situation is that Caglar Soyuncu, Milan Skriniar and Alessio Romagnoli are three alternate options on their radar.
United reportedly want Alderwiereld but Tottenham are demanding £70m which could push the Manchester based outfit elsewhere.
The MEN report does not actually mention Alderweireld but does focus on Soyuncu, Skriniar and Romagnoli.
United fans are growing frustrated that the club have ‘insufficiently’ bolstered the squad over the window with just 23 days remaining until deadline day.
Red Devils boss Jose Mourinho revealed it is a ‘shame’ that they will be unable to start the Premier League without some of their key players.
“We cannot start the Premier League with our players that were in the World Cup, which is a shame for the most important club competition in Europe,” he said.
“Three weeks [holiday], which I think is the minimum that their body and soul needs, and which is the minimum for them to return and think about football again. To bring them back before that would be, ‘Okay, I have you for the first match of the season, but maybe I don’t have you in three or four months.'”
United have made signing a new defender a priority and Soyuncu is one of the names being considered.
Turkey did not make the tournament which means that Soyuncu is one of the names on the list that will have be fresh and have enjoyed a full pre-season.
The Red Devils could face competition from Arsenal and Atletico Madrid for the Freiburg defender.
Soyuncu’s agent Mustafa Dogru recently told Turkish-Football that the Gunners head of recruitment Sven Mislintat is keen on his client but there has not been official talks.
“Reports claiming Caglar or I saying a deal has been struck with Arsenal are false,” Dogru said.
“Arsenal have not held official talks with us, Sven Mislintat is keen on him but we are currently not in direct negotiations with the club.
“We have made it clear to Freiburg that Caglar wants to leave over the summer.
Sport report that Soyuncu is being tipped as a potential replacement should Diego Godin and Stefan Savic leave.
The Atleti duo have been linked with Italian giants Juventus.
Per the source, Freiburg want £26m [€30m] for their star defender but would be willing to get a deal done for £17.5m [€20m].
