6 players Manchester United and Jose Mourinho should look to sign in the January transfer window

4.Kostas Manolas (Roma)

Another defender known for his supreme passing ability, Manolas rose to fame when he scored the winning goal in the famous comeback in the 2017-18 season as Roma triumphed over Barcelona in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League.

After strong displays in Olympiakos’ defence back in 2013, reports suggested that many English clubs including Tottenham Hotspurs and Sunderland were eyeing to snap up the Greek centre back but AS Roma’s bid to sign Manolas triumphed as he joined the Italian club in 2014.

After a string of good seasons, Manolas slowly became the defacto leader of the Giallorossi defence as he was the backbone of the Roma side which became an ever stay in the top 4 of Serie A. Links with transfer to several top clubs including Mann United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Real Madrid surfaced but Roma have managed to keep the Greek defender. He is neither a new face to United nor Mourinho as the Red Devils under David Moyes were looking to sign Manolas as the replacement for Nemanja Vidic while Mourinho too attempted to bring the centre back to Stamford Bridge back at Mourinho’s stint with Chelsea.

He is one of the very few defenders who combine the virtues of a traditional centre-half with the modern need to play from the back as he is another centre-back who is a great passer of the ball. Manolas possesses the speed to keep track of quick attackers whilst also possessing the strength required to battle with more physical attackers.

Such qualities make him an ideal pick to strengthen the defence which is pretty low on confidence at the moment as United and Mourinho would like to begin their second quest to bring the Greek home.