Report: Mourinho ready to offload Bailly, Rojo before buying new defender
Jose Mourinho is prepared to sell both Eric Bailly and Marcos Rojo if those moves allow him to purchase a new center-back during the January transfer window, according to The Telegraph's James Ducker and Jeremy Wilson.
Manchester United are now 12 points adrift of the Premier League's summit after losing 3-1 at the home of their local rivals and leaders of the division, Manchester City. The club's academy manager, former midfielder Nicky Butt, finds the gulf in quality between the sides to be particularly alarming, admitting at a player care conference on Monday that United "have got a challenge on our hands" to bridge that gap.
Despite United only managing to score with a penalty at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, Mourinho is desperate to bring in a new defender and turn around a poor record of just one clean sheet in 12 league outings.
The Red Devils' hierarchy reportedly vetoed the Portuguese manager's interest in Real Madrid's Raphael Varane, Leicester City's Harry Maguire, Barcelona's Yerry Mina (now of Everton), and Bayern Munich's Jerome Boateng over the summer. Now Mourinho apparently wants to appease the boardroom with sales before doing some January shopping.
Rojo certainly seems dispensable given that he is yet to play in the 2018-19 campaign, and United are understood to have been keen to sell him during the previous transfer window - merely months after he signed a new contract that ties him to the club until 2021.
Bailly, meanwhile, was signed by Mourinho and made a quick impression as an uncompromising member of United's rearguard. His career in England has since stalled, and he is being left out of some matchday squads following his start (and early withdrawal) against Newcastle United on Oct. 6. There is a chance, however, that United may stand in the way of Bailly being sold, Ducker and Wilson report, given that he's only 24 years old and cost around £30 million in the summer of 2016.
Inter's Milan Skriniar and Toby Alderweireld of Tottenham Hotspur feature prominently on Mourinho's wish list, the latter of whom began to fall out of Mauricio Pochettino's starting XI toward the end of last season.