Ed Woodward Admits He Blocked Move For “One Or Two” Jose Mourinho Targets

Jose Mourinho is back to Premier League football and his admirers would have been pleased to see him victorious at the touchline when he secured a 3-2 win over West Ham United with his new club Tottenham Hotspur.

It has been close to a year since the Portuguese gaffer was sacked by Manchester United and the circumstances have been evident. Mourinho was a frank critic of the lack of transfer dealings during his final summer window at Old Trafford and may have also been put in a sour spot due to the Paul Pogba fallout.

While the latter remains in the realm of speculation, there is now definitive proof confirming the former, and that too from Ed Woodward himself.

Speaking to United We Stand (via the Mirror), Manchester United’s vice-chairman revealed that there were transfers proposed by Mourinho that he had to snub, stating: “It is true that there was a difference of opinion on one or two players between the manager and the recruitment department. Sometimes I have to be one who delivers the ‘no’, which isn’t easy, because our natural tendency is to back the manager in every possible circumstance, but we have to listen to the recruitment experts too.”

While it was not specified as to who were the players who caused the difference in opinion, it was an open secret that Mourinho wished for a centre-back and that Harry Maguire was on the club’s radar back then itself.

This summer the former Leicester City centre-back was made the world’s most expensive defender by the Red Devils.

However, there appears to be no bad blood between the two prominent figures, with Mourinho even opening up about a fond gesture from Woodward upon his Spurs appointment.

Old Trafford will see the Special One again on December 4, this time leading a club who is on par with United to ascend back into the top-four.