José Mourinho has seen Joao Mario of Inter Milan as a potential replacement for Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has rarely featured lately for the Red Devils, according to The Mirror.
Mourinho’s former club Inter Milan, who paid Sporting Lisbon £40m for the midfielder in the summer of 2016, wish to get that money back, but it is still not known whether Mourinho and United will pay that fee.
It was believed that he would come to Old Trafford as part of a swap deal, however not for Mkhitaryan to go to Italy, but Juan Mata.
Mkhitaryan started the season well, featuring in all but two of the first 17 games for the Red Devils in all competitions, up until the loss at Stamford Bridge. However, since then, he has only featured once, playing 20 minutes against Brighton & Hove Albion in the 1-0 home win.
Joao Mario, pictured here with Ivan Perisic, who United were heavily linked with over summer, has been in a similar situation to Mkhitaryan this season.
The Portuguese midfielder featured in all games for club and country from matchday one up until the dramatic 3-2 Milan derby, where Mauro Icardi scored a hat-trick. Since then, Mario has played a full 90 minutes once for Inter, being mainly used on the bench now.
This could be a sign of him potentially on his way to the exit door at the San Siro, and maybe that could pave the way to Manchester. And if so, what would that mean for Mkhitaryan? All shall be revealed in January.
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