Manchester United have reportedly indicated to Jose Mourinho that they want more focus placed on developing the current members of the first-team squad.

Mourinho has previously suggested that he wanted to add to the ranks at Old Trafford before the end of the transfer window, but United failed to make a signing during the latter stages of the summer.

A new centre-back had been expected to arrive at the Premier League giants, and according to The Mirror, money has been made available to bring in what the club believe to be the 'right' players.

However, the report suggests that the United hierarchy did not want to pay over the odds for players who did not come with a resale value, nor did they want to focus their attention on anyone who could only hold down places in the team on a short-term basis.

Instead, Mourinho has allegedly been instructed to get the most out of his current squad, as well as begin to bring through more players from the academy setup to mirror the progress being made by neighbours Manchester City.