Jose Mourinho handed £80m to strengthen Manchester United squad during January window

Jose Mourinho will be handed a January transfer budget of €90m (£80m) to ensure Manchester United are equipped to fight on four fronts this season, according to latest reports.

United trail neighbours Manchester City by eight points at the summit of the Premier League ahead of the first derby between the two rivals on Sunday (10 December). Despite spending over £220m during the summer transfer window, Pep Guardiola will be given licence to further strengthen his squad during in the New Year, with a renewed bid for Alexis Sanchez likely to be in offing. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss has also not ruled out a reinforcement at the back following Benjamin Mendy's season-ending injury.

United are conscious of what is being planned over on the blue half of the city and are determined to ensure they do not fall behind. And according to Yahoo Sport, Mourinho has now been given the "green light" to make further additions to his squad following the summer acquisitions of Victor Lindelof, Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic.

Mourinho has identified three areas he feels need to be strengthened at left-back, on the wing and central midfield. United hold a long-term interest in Tottenham Hotspur full-back Danny Rose, a player who has openly discussed moving on from Spurs with a return to the north of the country his preferred option. Ashley Young has impressed on the left of defence this season but with doubts still lingering over Luke Shaw's long-term future at the club despite a bright performance against CSKA Moscow on Tuesday [5 December], the United boss remains keen to bring in a long-term solution to what has been a problem area.

Mourinho has alternated between Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial on the left of his attack this season with the former taking over as the more regular option of the two in recent weeks. But the Portuguese was keen to bring in a more orthodox option on the wing during the summer with the club frustrated in their pursuit of Inter Milan's Ivan Perisic, who signed a new contract with the Nerazzurri in September.

While United have spent £130m in assembling their first-choice midfield pairing of Paul Pogba and Matic, constant injuries have continued to underline the manager's strategy in the middle of the park with Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini in particular struggling this term. Both midfielders and another option in Ander Herrera have now entered the final years of their respective contracts. Valencia starlet Carlos Soler is thought to be a priority target to solve some of those problems.