The reason that Manchester United missed out on Renato Sanches is simply stupid

The influx of superstars to Jose Mourinho's Manchester United is starting to gather pace.

Zlatan has confirmed via his Instagram page that he is on his way to Old Trafford, while Borussia Dortmund schemer Henrikh Mkhitaryan looks set to follow in the next few days. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/748597599603671040 But one player that Mourinho has already missed out on is 18-year-old Portuguese midfielder Renato Sanches. Sanches is believed to be one of Mourinho's primary targets and Ed Woodward had been sent to Benfica to scout the youngster prior to Sanches' decision to sign for Bayern Munich in early May. And, according to Manchester Evening News, the reason that United missed out on Sanches is an absolutely ludicrous one. The report claims that the club did not want to sign Sanches before Louis van Gaal was officially sacked because the Dutchman was known to have no interest in that particular player. By signing the Portugal international while Van Gaal was still in his role as United manager, it would have undermined his position and essentially confirmed the intention to sack him, which the club did not want to do. So United dawdled, unwilling to sign a player that their current manager didn't want despite the knowledge that they'd have a new manager, who was an admirer of Sanches, in place in a matter of days. They wanted to make Sanches wait until Mourinho was appointed and, in the meantime, the prodigious talent was snapped up by Bayern Munich.