Mourinho in pursuit of Arsenal’s Ozil

LONDON: Jose Mourinho has given Manchester United the green light to push ahead with a £35mil (RM190mil) move for Mesut Ozil this month, according to reports.

The Mirror claim the Old Trafford boss will tempt old foe Arsene Wenger into selling the German World Cup winner before his contract runs out in the summer.

Mourinho wants a deal this month but is said to fear a bidding war with Paris St Germain and Bayern Munich.

Both sides remain keen on the 29-year-old playmaker, who has settled into a fine run of form for Wenger.

United’s owners, the Glazer family, are said to be prepared to hand Mourinho £80mil (RM434mil) to splash this month. However, other reports have claimed to the contrary.

A £35mil for Ozil would therefore still be under half his allotted funds for the start of 2018. With Wayne Rooney no longer draining the club of £300,000 (RM1.6mil) a week, it is claimed Ozil will want similar recompense.

The Portuguese wants clear-the-air talks with the hierarchy over the Red Devils’ approach to buying and selling players.

He believes he personally should have a bigger say on what money is spent and on whom after complaining that the £300mil (RM1.6bil) already forked out by him is not enough to win the title.

Mourinho has a number of targets he would like to bring in immediately including Tottenham’s Danny Rose or Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon at leftback.

Also on his wishlist are midfielder Thomas Lemar, rightback Fabinho, both at Monaco, Bordeaux winger Malcolm and Celtic fullback Kieran Tierney. — The Sun, London