José Mourinho was sacked as Manchester United coach last month following the club’s humiliating Premier League defeat against Liverpool. Mourinho may have led the Red Devils to a second placed finish in the League last term but they looked a devoid of confidence this term. It was quite evident that the defensive tactics of the self-proclaimed ”special one” were not working at Old Trafford and that the club needed to return to their natural way playing, which is attacking football.

Since the sacking of Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer has been in charge of the club on an interim basis till the end of the season. The Norwegian has done well so far, since he took over the club has gone on to win five games in all competitions.

Towards the end of his time at Old Trafford, Mourinho did publicly criticize the club’s board for having not backed him sufficiently in the transfer market. Mourinho had been hoping to recruit a new center-back and it was reported that his primary target was Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld. Alderweireld is regarded as one of the best center-backs in world football and would have been a good addition to the United side.

Now the Mirror has claimed that the United board vetoed Mourinho’s call for them to sign Alderweireld due to tactical reasons.  The report added that some of the United chiefs were not totally convinced that the Belgian international Alderweireld would fit into their defensive structure.

United do definitely need to make new defensive signings if it wants to return to its glory days. So far both Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof have failed to live up to expectations.

The team should consider selling big flop Alexis Sánchez and using the money generated to bring in new defensive reinforcements. The Red Devils have recently been linked with Nikola Milenkovic and Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly.