Jose lines up Lukaku
MANCHESTER UNITED are ready to go to war with Chelsea in the battle to sign Romelu Lukaku.
The Old Trafford outfit are planning to hijack his proposed switch to Stamford Bridge with an £85m bid.
United boss Jose Mourinho has told executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward to pull out all the stops to land the Belgium hitman.
Mourinho has been forced
SAIDO BERAHINO has been told he needs to fire and become Stoke’s lethal weapon next season.
Berahino, 23, is yet to break his duck since his £12m January move from West Brom.
The striker’s career has nosedived in recent seasons amid doubts over his form and fitness.
But Mark Hughes has high hopes that Berahino can become the 20-plus scorer Stoke need to close the gap on the big guns.
The Stoke boss said: “If you look at the top seven this year, they have got themselves together and every one of them has a 20, 25-goal-a-year striker.
“If you have that then it is always going to help you. We have never had one of those but still been able to get top-10 finishes.
“We have high hopes for Saido to be that striker, who gets that 15, 20 goals which makes a huge difference.”
Hughes wants Stoke to emulate Everton. The Toffees are the closest to breaking into the leading pack and Hughes says Stoke need to find their own Romelu Lukaku.
He added: “Having a striker like that is a huge benefit. You look at Everton, they are a good side, but with Romelu Lukaku they are a top-seven side.
“Without Lukaku, I’d imagine they’d be back in the pack with the rest of us and you could say that for a number of clubs.
“That is the difference. At times we won’t achieve what people think we are capable of but I would argue we are trying to maximise our capabilities.
“We are not able to win every game in the Premier League. It is about making sure we are competitive, difficult to beat.”
While Hughes is chasing goals, his main priority is bolstering his defence for next season.
But he added: “If we saw somebody with the potential to make an impact at the club, in terms of goalscoring, then we would look at it.”