Jose’s search for fresh legs at full-back...

JOSE Mourinho may have to follow Pep Guardiola’s example and plan a summer overhaul of his fullbacks.

The Blues parted company with Aleksandar Kolarov, Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy, while splashing the cash on Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendyn and Danilo.

City have coped effortlessly without the injured Mendy for six months, with Fabian Delph and Oleksandr Zinchenko filling in on the left. The £54m Walker is comfortably the best right-back in the Premier League but the reality is City have dominated almost every match so they have scarcely had to defend.

Jose Mourinho has settled on auxiliary options, too. Antonio Valencia had converted into a fulltime right-back by the time Mourinho was appointed and Ashley Young had spells at left-back and wing-back under Louis van Gaal but the former wingers are recognised as defenders. Young, 32, is 10 years Luke Shaw’s senior but has dominated the left-back position so imperiously he has started all eight of the Reds’ top-six encounters this term.

But Young is 32 and so is Valencia. They will be 33 at the start of next season and are both out of contract next summer.

Mourinho has scoured Europe for the ideal replacement for the chided Shaw and is believed to prefer Juventus’s Alex Sandro over Tottenham’s Danny Rose and Celtic whippersnapper Kieran Tierney.

One of the particular quirks about Mourinho’s United is the established full-backs are the same pair Van Gaal settled on more than three years ago.

Just like Guardiola, Mourinho could sell at least three full-backs, with Shaw generating interest outside the Premier League top-six competitors. Should United opt to get rid of Shaw, it has to be this summer if they are to recoup any dough from the initial £27m they paid Southampton for him in 2014.

Daley Blind and Matteo Darmian’s deals also expire in 2019 but executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward would back himself to obtain profits from their £13.8m and £11.8m signing fees.

Next season Timothy FosuMensah may be entrusted with deputising for Valencia after a campaign of regular football with Crystal Palace where he has also attained his first senior Netherlands caps.

The 20-year-old has played primarily at right-back and United have not scouted that position as extensively as the left.

Young, whose United future is secure, would vie with Sandro or Rose on the other flank should Mourinho insist on a replacement for Shaw.