Jose Mourinho admits Manchester United are in trouble as he ponders January additions

Jose Mourinho is unsure if Manchester United will be active during the ongoing January transfer window after admitting that the team are in trouble at the moment owing to their growing injury list.

The Portuguese coach refused to rule out making additions this month, but indicated that it could change in a few weeks when players return from injury and the fixture schedule eases up after the festive season, with United playing 10 games in a month.

The Red Devils currently have six first team players sidelined through injury and, with fixtures coming thick and fast, Mourinho admitted that it is difficult to rotate and give players the required rest. Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were the latest entrants into the injury list following their draw against Southampton. The list already consists of Eric Bailly, Marouane Fellaini, Antonio Valencia and Michael Carrick.

United have been linked with a number of players in the transfer window, but Mourinho remained non-committal in terms of additions in January. He recently admitted that they will be looking to sign two midfielders in the summer in order to replace Michael Carrick, who is certain to hang up his boots once his contract expires at the end of June, and to also add depth to his squad.

"Honestly, I don't know. At this moment, we are in trouble. In two or three weeks' time, if we recover some players, maybe we breathe in a different way," Mourinho said after United's 2-0 win over Everton on Monday, 1 January, as quoted by Sky Sports.

"Do we improve the team now or wait until the summer? I cannot say," the Portuguese coach added.

Lukaku is the only one certain to return within the week after Mourinho admitted that he was left out of the game against Eveton just as a precaution. The Belgian striker sustained a head injury and was stretchered off during United's draw against Southampton on Saturday, 30 December.

"Romelu is not a problem, maybe Romelu can play [on Friday]," Mourinho said in his post-match briefing on Monday, as quoted by Sky Sports. "It was a precaution by the doctor, who was following the rules to protect the situation, but Romelu was in the dressing room and never lost his memory, he knew what happened [against Southampton].

"He didn't come today, to follow the protocol, but he wanted to play. We had to stop him playing because he was saying, 'I feel amazing, I should go and play.'

"We had to follow the protocol and protect the player, so we decided not to play him. But he will probably be back [on Friday]," he said.