Mourinho Makes John Stones Manchester United's Top Priority

Manchester United's rumoured summer spending spree has finally got the direction it so desperately needed following the appointment of Jose Mourinho as full time manager and now the club can concentrate on acquiring the tagets short listed by the Portuguese manager as soon as they possibly can. United are going to provide Mourinho with the complete might of their considerable financial resources in order to build a squad that would be able to compete with the best in the business and the manager's first move in the market is going to be a bid for Everton's young central defender John Stones, according to a report in the British publication The Daily Star.

Jose Mourinho ratest the defender very highly and in fact, he had tried to sign him up last summer when he was at Chelsea and even though Stones has put in a transfer request, the move was vetoed by the club. Chelsea had placed a £32 million bid for the 22 year old but this year Everton might not be able to keep hold of the promising defender and according to the report, they have slapped a £45 million price tag on their prized asset. Jose Mourinho, like most managers, believe that a strong defence is the basis for strong teams and has identified the central defence as an area of concern considering the fact that Chris Smalling has not been given the support he needs at the heart of the United defence. He believes that Stones would be the ideal partner for Smalling and wants the United transfer fixers to complete the deal as soon as possible.

Manchester United's transfer business is overseen by their CEO Ed Woodward and over the years, he has made plenty of errors, which is why the signing of John Stones could prove to be a marker as far as the relationship between Mourinho and the club management is concerned. Money is not the problem for United and it is believed that they would be more than happy to meet Everton's valuation of the player.