Jose Mourinho says he could have signed £28m star if he was appointed earlier

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho believes he could have signed Benfica midfielder Renato Sanches under the noses of Bayern Munich had he been appointed as the club’s manager earlier, according to the Manchester Evening News.

Despite the club holding an interest in the highly-rated Portugal international, who was part of his nation’s squad for their triumph at the 2016 European Championships in France earlier this summer and voted as the tournament’s Best Young Player, former Red Devils boss Louis van Gaal wasn’t interested in bringing the 18-year-old to Old Trafford.

Bayern signed Sanches on May 10, but United officials didn’t want to undermine Van Gaal while the season was still going on despite Mourinho wanting to the Benfica man, as they believed it would confirm the Dutchman’s departure at the end of the campaign.

Mourinho told Sport TV: “I arrived late. I signed in May, we started talking a week before, but completely out of the process. If I had arrived earlier, I’d fight for him.”

United have since brought in three players to the club – Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly – while they are still hopeful of completing a world-record £100 million move for Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba.