Manchester United have lodged a “fair” offer for Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata this summer, according to Jose Mourinho.
The United manager went public with his club’s interest in signing Morata, 24, as he addressed the media from their training camp in Los Angeles in the early hours of Saturday in UK time.
The Premier League giants have been strongly linked with signing the Spain international during the current window and were widely reported to have bid up to £61million for the player.
However, Real are holding out for their £78million valuation and a deal has not been agreed between the two football superpowers.
“We were interested,” said Mourinho on Saturday, as quoted by Spanish newspaper AS. “That’s obvious, it was public knowledge but we didn’t reach an economic agreement.
“It’s understandable. Real Madrid are well within their rights to ask whatever fee they want for their players. It’s not for us to put a price on a Real Madrid player. I cannot criticise Real Madrid and nor can I criticise the board at United.
“The directors made an offer which they felt was fair but even so, we didn’t reach an agreement”.
The forward has developed into one of the most highly rated forwards in Europe even though he was forced to play second fiddle to Karim Benzema last season as the Spanish giants stormed to a La Liga and Champions League double.
Morata scored 20 goals and supplied six assists in 43 appearances across all competitions, including an impressive 15 league goals from 14 starts, but did not start the key matches, including the Champions League final.
United have already signed one big-name striker this summer, completing the signing of Romelu Lukaku from Everton last weekend for a reported fee of £90million.
It remains to be seen whether they will make another strong push to land Morata, with much likely to depend upon the future of France international Anthony Martial.
Morata returned to Real for a second spell last summer after two seasons at Juventus, but the player has made clear he is looking to exit the club once again after not being guaranteed a starting spot in Zinedine Zidane’s side.