Manchester United Transfer News: Jose Mourinho Talks Targets, Eric Dier Rumours

Jose Mourinho has revealed he has already given the Manchester United board named targets to go after in the summer transfer window. 

Per Samuel Luckhurst in the Manchester Evening News, Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann has long been touted as United's key summer target—he has a reported £86 million buyout clause—but there are also other areas that need to be strengthened. 

While Portuguese manager Mourinho would not reveal the areas he is keen to reinforce or the players he is targeting, he did outline his plans for the end of the season, per Luckhurst:

"

I cannot tell you. The only thing I tell you is that the job of my board is going to be difficult, but at the same time is easy. It's easy because I give names. 

I'm not giving what you ask me—qualities or positions. I give names. The difficulty is to get the names. It's easy on one side, but very difficult on the other side. Normally the perfect market doesn't exist when you establish targets. It's very difficult to get exactly what you want, especially nowadays.

"

Mourinho added: "But we want to improve, we need to improve for the next step. We lost players that were not very important in our first choices. But we lost [Memphis] Depay, [Morgan] Schneiderlin and got nobody.

"At the end of season every club there's always two players to go in, three players to go out. That's normal. There will be something normal to improve our team globally. 

"I'm not saying we have to go exactly for that position. We have to improve globally like everybody else."

One player Mourinho is reportedly very interested in bringing to Old Trafford is Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Eric Dier.

According to The Sun's Daniel Cutts, United are planning to make a £35 million move for the England international having been interested in the January transfer window.

Cutts added that Mourinho is set to be handed at least £200 million to bolster the United squad in the summer, and a source said Dier is a key target: "United are interested in Dier, and looked at making a move for him in [January]. 

"Obviously that didn't come off, but Mourinho has him on a list of targets for the summer. He likes him. 

"Tottenham do not want to sell him under any circumstances, but you never know what can happen when the money is on the table."

Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images

As noted by the source, it seems unlikely Tottenham would be willing to sell Dier, especially to a direct Premier League rival.

However, it is understandable the 23-year-old should be on United's radar given the areas that need strengthening in Mourinho's squad.

Although Dier has played much of the 2016-17 season as a centre-back—in both a back three and back four—he is traditionally a defensive midfielder.

At the moment, United's only reliable defensive midfielder is 35-year-old Michael Carrick, who has recently spoken about the potential of retirement, per Squawka:

United need a new central midfielder to fill Carrick's role at the base of the midfield, protecting the defence and allowing other central players, particularly Paul Pogba, freedom to roam.

Dier has all the attributes to fill the Carrick role in the long term—good positioning, defensive strength and distribution.

Although he does not yet boast great consistency, Mourinho likely feels he could develop the young Englishman into a top player who could become a United stalwart.