At one point it seemed like every defender in Europe had been linked with a move to Manchester United over the summer.
Jose Mourinho made no secret of the area he wished to strengthen in the most recent transfer window, identifying the centre of his defence as the weak point going into his third season at Old Trafford.
But the summer months passed and United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward only managed to bring in a full-back, a central midfielder and a third-choice goalkeeper.
The window had barely shut when United played their first Premier League game of the season and Mourinho wasted no time in voicing his frustration about the club’s failure to bring in his top targets.
There has been plenty of speculation around who featured on Mourinho’s wishlist and now we know precisely who the Portuguese wanted to see added to his ranks.
Former England manager Fabio Capello has revealed Mourinho’s summer targets, having spoken to the Red Devils boss at the Uefa coaching convention last month.
“This summer at a meeting of the coaches I met Mourinho. He was looking for two defenders: One was [Milan] Skriniar and the other was [Kalidou] Koulibaly,” Capello told Sky Calcio Live.
Inter Milan reportedly set a pricetag of £76 million on Skriniar, who admitted that he was flattered by United’s interest.
Koulibaly impressed at the World Cup and an unnamed club came in with bid of £89 million for the Napoli centre-half, according to reports.
Whether it was United who bid for Koulibaly or not remains unknown but one thing’s for sure, you can’t tell Fabio Capello any secrets.
