Target Tielemans impresses and Carrick bemoans lack of killer instinct

YOURI TIELEMANS

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho was full of praise for Anderlecht’s young stars, amid speculation that he might make a move for 19-year-old Youri Tielemans. He has been on United’s radar for quite some time and his display last night against his potential suitors has only enhanced an ever-growing reputation across Europe. He skippered his side despite just being 19 and has already featured for the Belgium National Team under Roberto Martinez.

NOT GOOD ENOUGH

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho was once again critical of his strikers after last night’s 1-1 draw against Anderlecht. He said: “The result is positive. To play at home with an advantage is good. It’s a good result in any case. But I think the result should be much better and we can only blame ourselves. An easy game to play in the second half and we didn’t play in attack with that instinct. We lost the ball easily too many times. We stopped our counter-attacks because of sloppy decisions. Then we gave them an opportunity to have some counter-attacks. Luckily, our defenders were very much in the game. If I was a Manchester United defender, I would be very upset with the attacking players because they have to kill the game and they didn’t.”

CARRICK POST-MATCH COMMENTS

Manchester United’s captain against Anderlecht bemoaned his team’s inability to kill off matches. Carrick admitted that he and his teammates have to be more ruthless in front of goal when in control of the match. “It is frustrating but we were so in control and got sloppy,” Carrick said post-match, speaking to BT Sport. “We have to kill teams off. We should have won that game comfortably. It is bitterly disappointing. We need to be more ruthless. It was almost too easy and we didn’t create the opportunities we should have.”

DYBALA EXTENDS TURIN STAY

Manchester United target Paulo Dybala has signed a contract extension at Juventus to keep him at the club till 2022. The 22-year old joined Juve for £27m and his new salary is expected to be above the £200k a week mark. His performances in Turin have alerted the likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona. He was simply stunning in this week’s demolition of the Catalan Club.

BACK-UP

Manchester United will target Porto’s Andre Silva should they fail to lure Atletico’s Antoine Griezmann. The 21-year-old Portuguese has scored 20 times already this season. He is already a regular for the Portuguese National Team and is tipped to take over the scoring responsibilities from Cristiano Ronaldo in the long term. United will have to pay in excess of £50m and face competition from PSG and Marseille.