Waching daily Dec 1 2018

 Manchester United boss Mourinho managed Varane at Real Madrid, signing him from Lens back in the summer of 2010 when the player was a relative unknown

 Woodward is supposedly keen to bring the France international to Old Trafford, despite the player being one of Los Blancos' most important assets

 Back in the summer, Manchester United tried to sign a defender to no avail, with Jose Mourinho furious at the club's failure to improve the squad

 Toby Alderweireld and Harry Maguire were both identified as priority targets - only to end up staying at Tottenham and Leicester respectively

 Diego Godin used the club to try and negotiate a new contract at Atletico Madrid

 And United also failed in pursuits of Yerry Mina and Jerome Boateng. Mina joined Everton from Barcelona, while Boateng opted to remain at Bayern Munich

 Woodward would love for Varane to be the Galactico defender the club need. But the Evening Standard say that Mourinho instead believes a pursuit of the World Cup winner would be tricky to pull off

 It is claimed that the United boss has instead drawn up a dossier of more suitable targets

 And the Evening Standard have delved into some of the player's on that list. Alderweireld remains on their radar with the Belgium international continuing to shine for Tottenham in the Premier League

 And Inter Milan powerhouse Milan Skriniar is also in Mourinho's sights. Approaches for the duo, though, would be difficult

 Tottenham would likely resist any attempts to sign Alderweireld despite the fact the player's value is primed to drop in January

 At 29, he would also be a short-term fix rather than an option for many years to come

 Skriniar is a popular figure at Inter Milan and has been backed to sign a new contract at the San Siro

 But he is not Premier League proven, and relatively inexperienced, meaning Mourinho may face a fight to get the transfer over the line