Jose Mourinho urged Man United chiefs not to sign Cristiano Ronaldo

Jose Mourinho urged his Manchester United bosses NOT to make a move for Cristiano Ronaldo [Photo: Courtesy]

Jose Mourinho urged his Manchester United bosses NOT to make a move for Cristiano Ronaldo when the Portugual superstar decided to quit Real Madrid this summer.

The United manager felt that handing Madrid a £90million fee for a player who would also ­command wages of £500,000-a-week made no sense when he had made it his top priority to sign ­defensive ­reinforcements.

But ­Mourinho’s stance backfired when United chiefs then failed to deliver Toby ­Alderweireld, Harry Maguire or deadline-day target Diego Godin.

Mourinho is still furious that ­Executive Vice-chairman Ed ­Woodward refused to splash the cash on at least one new centre-back after successive defeats to Brighton and Tottenham have left him fighting for his future ahead of today’s trip to Burnley.

Especially when Woodward was ready to spend big to bring five-time Balon D’Or winner Ronaldo back to Old Trafford at the age of 33.

Ronaldo eventually moved to Juventus – and will now make an emotional return to Manchester in October after United drew the Italian giants in the Champions League.

But Mourinho is still angry that his employers refused to invest more than £75million on Brazilian midfielder Fred, teenage defender Diogo Dalot and third-choice keeper Lee Grant when he had spent the summer urging them to splash the cash on the defenders he felt were needed to mount a sustained challenge for the top trophies.

Mourinho insists he remains one of the game’s greatest managers, but he admitted: “I said in the summer what would happen before the competition started.

The United manager felt that handing Madrid a £90million fee for a player who would also ­command wages of £500,000-a-week made no sense when he had made it his top priority to sign ­defensive ­reinforcements [Courtesy]

“I knew this was going to be difficult because I also knew that last season was very, very difficult.

“The teams that are really, really good offensively are the teams that are very very solid from the back.

“Teams that have the offensive mentality are also ultra-confident defensively.

“Against Spurs we were really positive and really strong and I think a very good opponent felt they were really in trouble.

“But two defensive mistakes in five minutes lost the game for us.

“It’s a process and it’s a process that has risks - especially if you make the defensive mistakes that breaks that dynamic.

“Two defeats are two defeats. We still have 35 matches to play. But our realistic target now is to win on Sunday. After that it will be to win against Watford.”

United haven’t lost three of their opening four games since 1986 – when Ron Atkinson was sacked and replaced by Sir Alex Ferguson.

A difficult week was made worse when they were given a tough Champions League group that includes Valencia and BSC Young Boys as well as Ronaldo’s big-spending Juventus.

Mourinho said: “We know that in the Champions League, we have to play the biggest candidate.

“Juventus were always a big candidate but they have transformed themselves into the biggest candidate because they don’t hide that the investment they have made has been made to win it.

“I think Cristiano will like coming back as he was happy to come back when he was at Real Madrid.

“But he comes back to do a job for them like he did for Real Madrid. He is still a top player – unless he fails to score this weekend and you tell me he is not a good player anymore!”