Manchester United will attempt to sign Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld in January for £40million, according to the Metro.
The report claims that Jose Mourinho had urged the United board to sign the 29-year-old but was upset as the club did not bring a quality central defender in the summer.
Spurs valued their star defender at £75million during that time and the report adds that Ed Woodward was unwilling to match that sum.
The report claims that since Alderweireld is in the final six months of his contract at Spurs, and even if the club trigger a 12-month extension, the 29-year-old would be available for £25m in the summer.
It is this situation that United want to take advantage of and are willing to move in the winter window. However, the report adds that the club will not spend more than £40million for the 29-year-old. Further, United have their eyes set on Kalidou Koulibaly of Napoli.
The Senegal defender is their first-choice, as per the report, but the Serie A club want £90m and United are not looking to shell out a world-record fee for the defender.
The Red Devils have struggled to keep clean sheets this season and have conceded 26 goals from 16 games.
Tightening the defence could provide us with a base to build upon and it will be interesting to see our activity in the winter window.
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Tottenham will certainly make it hard for us to sign the Belgian, but hopefully, we can persuade Daniel Levy to part with Alderweireld.