Manchester United: The 4 defenders on Jose Mourinho's Wishlist

Tactically, Jose Mourinho is one of the best managers in world football. Don't believe me. His record speaks for himself.

His professional managerial career has been nearly 18 years long. In 18 years, he's won 25 trophies. He's not just won trophies, he's won them impressively in some of the biggest leagues in the world.

Out of the 885 games that he's managed so far, he's won 579 of them. That makes his win percentage 65.4%- a very respectable achievement.

He has a winning mentality and that winning mentality stems from a primarily defensive mindset. No manager knows how to 'park the bus' as successfully as Jose. He may not play the most attractive football but he gets the club the all important results. At the end of the day, that's what matters.

You evaluate the success of a manager on the basis of the number of trophies that he's won for the club. And, Jose Mourinho has developed a habit of winning wherever he goes.

Next season is going to be his third season with Manchester United. Honestly, that in itself is quite a statement of commitment. On an average, Mourinho spends 2.15 years with a club hence, by going into his third season with United, he's already bettering his average.

When Mourinho signed a new contract extension with Manchester United in January, it showed his ambition. His new contract runs up till 2020 and surely, winning a Premier League title by then is very much on his agenda.

Mourinho's spell at United so far cannot be called a failure. In three seasons, he has won three trophies with them. The trophies may be small but they are trophies nonetheless.

Looking at United's performances last season, one can already see that the players have imbibed Mourinho's philosophy. While ordinarily finishing 2nd in the Premier League is a notable achievement, for a club like Manchester United and a manager like Mourinho, it's considered to be a failure.

To get one step closer to winning the Premier League, United need to add some quality players to its ranks.

So far in this transfer window, Mourinho has shored up the midfield by signing Fred from Shakhtar Donetsk. His main concern this transfer window has been to steady United at the back and to do so, he brought in Diogo Dalot from Porto- one of the best full-backs in his age-category in Europe.

His defensive wish-list consists of 4 other world-class defenders. If Mourinho is able to sign even one of these players, United can be backed as serious title-contenders this season!

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#4 Harry Maguire (Leicester City)

Harry Maguire

The England centre-back announced himself on the world stage in considerable style. After having a very good season with Leicester City last year, he only bettered his reputation after an impressive showing at the World Cup.

Much to Leicester City's dismay, his impressive performances at the World Cup have won him many suitors.

After being heavily linked with a move away from the King Power Stadium, in a recent interview, Claude Puel made his intentions absolutely clear.

"It is important for Maguire to continue for Leicester. When we welcome players back from the World Cup, I hope we can give them the opportunity to continue advancing their ambitions and perform in the Premier League."

Jose Mourinho fancies bringing Maguire to Old Trafford but he may be put off by the price that Leicester is asking for him. In a bid to ensure Maguire stays at the club, Leicester has slapped a whooping figure of £60 million price-tag on his services.

#3 Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur)

Toby Alderweireld

Alderweireld is not happy with Pochettino and he's made that absolutely clear in his interviews. When questioned about his future, Alderweireld had this to say about Tottenham:

"‘I wanted to prove something again. Show that the period before the tournament in which I did not play – for whatever reason – was unjustified."

You can see that he's clearly unhappy with they way he was treated at Tottenham last year. Sensing an opportunity, Manchester United has been trying extremely hard to get the Belgium international to Old Trafford.

However, Tottenham is driving a hard bargain. Some papers are suggesting that Tottenham is trying to get Anthony Martial included into the deal somehow. Mourinho has said that he won't allow Martial to leave Manchester United for another Premier League club and so, things are getting interesting.

This is a transfer-saga that's been going on since well before the World Cup began. It's going to be very interesting to see how things finally end up.

#2 Leonardo Bonnuci (AC Milan)

Leonardo Bonnuci

Last season, the 31-year old left Juventus for a new challenge at AC Milan. The Milan club did not have the best of seasons because of which Bonnuci is now looking for another challenge elsewhere.

He's already informed the club's manager about his desire to leave the club. Supposedly, further talks are going to be held between him and the higher-ups at AC Milan to decide his future in the coming days.

Manchester United, Chelsea & Juventus are all interested in signing the Italian veteran.

If United can sign him, he would be a great addition to the squad. Strong and confident- he's the ideal Mourinho defender. He would additionally bring in loads of experience with him, something that's hard to put a price on.

Now that he's 31-years old, he is quite an affordable buy and will cost United approximately £20 million.

#1 Alex Sandro (Juventus)

Alex Sandro

Manchester United has been trying to sign Alex Sandro right from the onset of this transfer window. He's been Mourinho's 'number 1' transfer target for quite some time now.

Sandro is a world-class full-back who's brilliant at both ends of the pitch. He's had a couple of wonderful seasons at Juventus, as a result of which, he's been constantly linked with a move away from the club.

Over the last two seasons, the left-back position has been a cause of serious concern for United.

Mourinho believes that Sandro is the solution to this problem of his.

Sandro has two years left on his contract at Juventus because of which Juventus is asking a lot of money for him. The only reason why a deal between the two clubs hasn't been agreed so far is on account of the valuation differences.

Juventus value Sandro at around £52 million. If United want their man, they better reach an agreement for him fast as it's rumoured that PSG is also very keenly interested in signing him.