Manchester United Transfer Rumors 2018: Mourinho Pushing to Sign Arsenal's Mesut Özil This Month
As Manchester City close in on Arsenal's Alexis Sánchez, their cross-town rivals, Manchester United, are also doing some January shopping of their own and they are expected to make a push to sign Gunners midfielder Mesut Özil.
According to the Mirror's Steve Bates, the club's board has given Red Devils manager José Mourinho the green light to lodge a £35-million bid for Özil.
The report says that Mourinho actually prefers to wait until the summer when Özil is able to leave on a free transfer. However, he reportedly wants to avoid a bidding war with Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain in the offseason, that's why they want to seal the deal before the January transfer window closes.
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"With the Glazer family, who own United, prepared to hand Mourinho £80m in this transfer window it's a deal the club could easily afford — particularly as they no longer have Wayne Rooney's £300,000 weekly salary on their wage bill after his move to Everton," Bates said in his report.
"Ozil is demanding that level of package and United are prepared to negotiate a deal if Arsenal want to cash in," he added.
Özil has worked under Mourinho before when both were with Real Madrid, and he's exactly the type of player Mourinho wants in midfield.
But first, United have to convince Arsenal to part ways with Özil before his contract expires at the end of the season.
Meanwhile, the Mirror has also reported that the Mourinho is targeting Tottenham's Danny Rose as well, but the club's board is not quite sure the left-back is worth his price tag (rumored to be £50 million) since he has been dealing with a knee injury.
"Old Trafford bosses have their reservations with the 27-year-old England full-back Rose still not fully fit after a long spell out injured," Bates said.
