Can Manchester United compete without Jose Mourinho's desired fourth signing?

United will only bring three players through the door this summer. Will it be enough?

Mourinho started the summer wanting four signings (Getty)

Manchester United are set for a quiet deadline day, with only loan moves for some of the club’s young players on the cards. Matty Willock has joined FC Utrecht in the Eredivisie, while Scott McTominay could play the rest of the season in the Championship with Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Incomings are even quieter, with no further additions to Jose Mourinho's squad expected despite the United manager still being one signing short of his target at the start of the summer. Mourinho wanted four new additions – instead, he has three and the promise of Zlatan Ibrahimovic returning from injury in the New Year.

In the past, you might expect Mourinho to make a veiled comment in a press conference hinting at how unhappy he was at his club’s inaction. Actually, there has been relatively little of that.

“The club did a fantastic job, absolutely fantastic, by getting three of them, which is difficult in the crazy market where we are now,” he said at the end of United’s pre-season. “To get three out of four, I thank the club for that. I would be happier if they gave me four of four but they did a great effort for me.”

So yes, he could be happier, but his appreciation for the arrivals of Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic and Victor Lindelof is genuine. The fourth addition Mourinho wanted was a ‘wide player’, and the ultimately unsuccessful pursuit of Internazionale’s Ivan Perisic was no secret, but the specific profile of the man he wanted was always hard to pin down.

Most recently, Mourinho claimed that he did not want an out-and-out attacking asset like Perisic. “The player I was looking for was not a pure winger because I have pure wingers,” he said before the 4-0 win at Swansea City. “Probably the player that I was looking for is a player that allows me to play with three at the back and play the wing-back.”

Indeed, if United could strengthen anywhere, it is at left-back. Daley Blind is yet to establish himself in the position and graduate from being a utility player at Old Trafford. Of all those to have started the opening three wins over West Ham United, Swansea City and Leicester City, the Dutchman’s position is the most vulnerable.

Yet a new left-back was not wholly necessary. United already have Luke Shaw, a player who has the potential to be a first-team regular in the position and one who is nearing a return to full fitness. Shaw should receive another chance to impress in due course and should he finally take it, he will replace Blind in the backline.

On the other flank, meanwhile, Antonio Valencia was arguably the club’s player of the season last year. In attack, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Juan Mata have all made promising starts to the season, as has Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who can operate both wide and centrally. The first-choice options in wide areas are on-form and the coverage in those positions adequate.

Of all Mourinho’s initial targets, the vague requirement a ‘wide player’ was lowest on the list of priorities, while the real problem areas – namely up front and in central midfield – have been sufficiently addressed. Mourinho could and would be happier with a fourth signing, but United look ready to challenge regardless.