Manchester United have included Netherlands under-21 international Justin Kluivert on a shortlist of transfer options.

The Ajax forward joins Thomas Lemar, Malcom and Christian Pulisic as options to add a natural winger to Jose Mourinho’s squad.

The son of retired Netherlands striker Patrick, the 18-year-old Kluivert broke into Ajax’s first team in January. With just a season and half remaining on a contract that the Eredivisie club have struggled to lengthen and improve, Kluivert would be a relatively low-cost upgrade for United.

Mourinho’s admiration for the player is long-standing with the Old Trafford manager making a point of personally complimenting Kluivert on his debut campaign in the immediate aftermath of United’s Europa League Final victory over Ajax in May.

The winger is represented by Mino Raiola, whom the English Premier League club have dealt with on several recent transfers.

United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward recently indicated that a budget in the region of €90million would be made available to Mourinho to improve a squad that has won 13 of 18 Premier League fixtures, yet lies 11 points adrift of record setting leaders Manchester City.

Although the Portuguese coach publicly stated his desire to recruit a forward “who can play through the wings to give me more attacking options” in the summer window, United were not prepared to commit the financial resources required to secure one. As a result, Mourinho has divided wing duties between Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial – two forwards who prefer to attack centrally – or used wing backs to provide attacking width so far this season.

Mourinho generally avoids recruiting in January, he feels that clear residual shortcomings in his squad – coupled with the readiness of direct rivals to invest heavily this winter – make it sensible to bring forward at least of next summer’s planned reinforcement. continue reading

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