Could Manchester United's summer 2017 transfer window be over before it has begun?
United signed central defender Victor Lindelof and striker Romelu Lukaku for over £100 million ($129.8 million) this summer but in a press conference Thursday, Mourinho warned he will not accede to demands for vast transfer fees from teams who are well aware of United's financial largesse.
'Everybody knows because I told that I would like four players, and I'm ready to go from four to three because the market is difficult," Mourinho said.
"Some clubs think the market is different from others. We are not a club that is ready to pay what the clubs want us to pay so I'm ready to go from four to three [signings].
'The problem is we have four players that cannot play football now. Not even training. So it looks like our group is big, but it is not and the time for their recovery is really long. Marcos [Rojo] no chance before December as an example, so our squad is not so big."
One of Mourinho's remaining targets, Ivan Perisic, has flown to China with his current club for a preseason tour, further holding up a deal that has dragged on for four months since the Portuguese identified the Croatia winger as a key figure back in the spring.
The Manchester Evening News suggested on Wednesday that United should abandon its pursuit of Perisic, so protracted has the chase for him become. The 28-year-old may be emblematic of the problem Mourinho was outlining on Thursday. Inter continues to demand a fee that United is simply unwilling to meet.
United is currently on its preseason tour of the United States. Following two victories over Major League Soccer teams Los Angeles Galaxy and Real Salt Lake, it faces Manchester City on Friday at NRG Stadium in Houston in the first-ever Manchester derby to be played outside of Britain.
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