N’Golo Kante
The same summer, Mourinho targeted a strong central midfielder to add to his side, famously ending up splashing out £89m on Paul Pogba who is still yet to win over his critics.
But first, he turned to key Leicester midfielder and Pogba’s countryman Kante, reportedly phoning the now-Chelsea man though it was too late, as his mind was already made up.
“It was amazing to have Mourinho call me, even though I’d been warned before how he would appeal to me,”” Kante said.
“I listened to his arguments about why I should move to United, but at that time I was hesitant between staying at Leicester or leaving for Chelsea.
“My discussions with them were already well underway. But when I spoke, I had a good feeling with Conte.”
Kante was vital as he lifted his second successive Premier League trophy in a season United finished sixth, the midfielder joining Pogba and Varane in France’s World Cup winning squad in Russia.
Raphael Varane
“It’s not easy to say ‘no’ to Jose Mourinho,” said Varane, when he did just that in 2016.
Mourinho had signed the serial final winner for Real Madrid in 2011 – where he still is to this day – and Varane claimed there had been “indirect contact” again this summer while he was away starring in France’s World Cup win.
Instead of Hummels or Varane, though, United ended up with Eric Bailly, who became Mourinho’s first signing and cost the club £30million. However, due to a string of injuries, he has managed to appear in just half of the side’s Premier League games since.
Willian
Another player Mourinho has reportedly rekindled some kind of interest in this summer is Willian, who he tried to sign a year after the Brazilian won the player of the year award in the manager’s final season at Stamford Bridge.
“There were a few conversations with my agent. I worked with Mourinho and I became his friend as well,” he said after finding himself on the bench for much of the 2016-17 campaign.
“He likes me a lot and I like him a lot as a coach and as a person. He has put his trust in me and in my work, and I was very grateful to him.
“Manchester came to me, they talked with my agent, but nothing happened, because Chelsea would not negotiate me in any way and I’m very happy at Chelsea.”
The former Stamford Bridge boss did manage to do business with his old employees that summer, bringing Nemanja Matic in to partner Pogba in midfield, while Willian went on to have another frustrating season before Chelsea bizarrely turned down a number of big-money offers from Barcelona this year.
Neymar
Prior to his world-record move to PSG, Mourinho and United were incredibly keen on Neymar, who reportedly told the club that he would join them if they paid up his Barcelona contract.
Journalist Duncan Castles, who holds a very close relationship with Mourinho, told the Transfer Window podcast in 2018: “Manchester United tried really hard to get Neymar last summer, I should say Jose Mourinho tried to.
“A lot of conversations with the player, telling him he wanted to bring him from Barcelona to the Premier League – and Neymar encouraged that.
“But they were blown out of the water by PSG in terms of scale of salary and obviously the willingness to pay the release cause.
“I’m sure the interest remains. You can see that the conversations between Mourinho and Neymar had an affect on the player.”
Antoine Griezmann
Long before Griezmann’s wonderful video announcing he would turn down Barcelona, the French forward was being chased by Mourinho, who made his interest clear in the summer of 2017 as well as the following January.
The attacker is reportedly a big fan of Mourinho’s, but revealed he had not spoken to the manager when a move was close in 2017, when Atletico were under a transfer ban and unable to sign a replacement.
“No, that’s totally made up. False. It was my decision. I communicated it to the club. That’s it,” he told Four Four Two, refuting the claims he phoned Mourinho to tell him his decision.
“I have stayed mainly because of the transfer ban. Atletico needed me now more than ever and I felt I had to stay. It would be dirty to leave. I wouldn’t have been myself, or the person that I feel I am today, if I had left this club in that way.”
United did sign Romelu Lukaku that summer, filling the void left by Wayne Rooney’s return to Everton and Ibrahimovic’s injury problems, before Mourinho brought Alexis Sanchez to the club in January, ending all rumours of Griezmann moving to Old Trafford.
Alvaro Morata
Another forward who, probably more so than Griezmann, looked destined to move to United in 2017 was Morata, with Mourinho keen to reunite himself with his former Real Madrid player.
However he was left frustrated by his former club, saying: “The selling club is the one who puts the price on the player, the buying club doesn’t. If a club want to buy our players, we set the price.
“Morata is a Real Madrid player. Madrid made a decision and we didn’t reach an agreement with them. It is simple. It is a shame.
“He is a player who made it to the first team with me. We have a special liking for him, he is someone special. I enjoyed seeing his growth at Juventus and Madrid.
“It is like that. I don’t think he can end with us.” Morata joined Chelsea a week later, though he was rumoured to be heading for an exit this summer after just a year and 11 Premier League goals.
Gareth Bale
This one is ongoing. And has been for some time.