Jose Mourinho Calls for Manchester United Transfer Backing Amid PSG Interests

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has called for more backing from the club in the transfer market amid reports that Paris Saint-Germain have contacted his agent.

According to Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News, Mourinho wants United to "step up" their efforts in recruiting players after Manchester City significantly outspent them in the summer. (They splashed £220 million on new signings compared with the Red Devils' £140 million.)

Luckhurst noted the need for United to pursue more talent as they lost 1-0 to Chelsea on Sunday:

The team are lacking creativity with Paul Pogba on the sidelines, as Sky Sports demonstrated:

That should not be the case with the likes of Juan Mats and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the squad, but it seems United are over-reliant on the Frenchman and lack the necessary depth to cope without him.

By contrast, City's side is filled to the brim with creativity and attacking threat, with no less than seven top players to choose from.

The Sky Blues fielded Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva as they beat Arsenal 3-1 on Sunday. Gabriel Jesus and Bernardo Silva came off the bench.

City may have spent more in the summer, but as football writer Liam Canning noted, United should still be doing better than they are given their own spending:Mourinho should bear some responsibility for that, given he's not getting the best out of the largely excellent group of players he already has. Yet bringing in the right players in January and next summer can also help narrow the gulf.

The Special One is reportedly attracting interest from PSG, though, with Luckhurst adding the Parisian outfit have made contact with Jorge Mendes after Mourinho spoke highly of them in October. 

He told Telefoot: "The other day my son who lives in London went to Paris and not to Manchester to watch the match. At the moment in Paris there is something special. Magic, quality, youth; it's fantastic." 

Excluding the possibility of revisiting his former teams, PSG are one of relatively few clubs in Europe that Mourinho would likely consider. They have the players and resources to be counted among the continent's elite.

What's more, having won the UEFA Champions League twice, interest in him isn't a surprise given PSG are yet to achieve success in the competition despite having the resources to do so.

United are already eight points behind City, and closing that gap seems unlikely even with spending in January, so Mourinho looks set for another season without delivering a league title at Old Trafford. Should that result in his departure from the club, PSG would appear a realistic landing spot for the Portuguese.