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Mourinho confident Woodward can bring one or two more signings

Manchester United are still two signings short this summer, but Jose Mourinho is confident executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has the situation under control.

After making four acquisitions in his first summer at the Old Trafford helm, the plan was to make a further four top-quality additions ahead of the 2017-18 season.

So far defender Victor Lindelof has arrived from Benfica, with Everton striker Romelu Lukaku snared in a deal worth an initial £75 million.

However, progress on the final two signings has been slow with Mourinho even saying in recent days that one acquisition would now be enough.

Woodward joined up with United's American preseason tour having stayed back to work on deals that the United manager is confident the executive vice-chairman has a grip on.

"I don't know,'' he said when asked if any progress had been made on transfers. "Honestly, I don't know. Ed is in control. He did Lindelof and Lukaku, he knows that I would like two more players, but he also knows that I have balance.

"I understand the situation, I understand the market and if my club is not able to do two players and do just one, I will accept that as a consequence of the market now.

"Our relation is good and I just wait for good news -- and he knows that for me good news is to have the players, or in this case maybe just the player as soon as possible because to work together with the team is really, really important.

"But I'm calm. I like my players, I like my squad, I trust them, so I'm calm and that's important.''

Inter Milan winger Ivan Perisic has been targeted this summer, while there is interest in Chelsea defensive midfielder Nemanja Matic and Tottenham's Eric Dier.

"I'm happy with my squad, but I would like to have two more players -- I never hide that,'' Mourinho said ahead of the International Champions Cup match against Barcelona in Washington D.C.

"One player would be a midfield player that gives me more options, more balance to the team, our needs.

"Another one, an attacking player, especially that can play through the wings to give me also more attacking options.

"But I never speak about players that belong to other teams. I don't like if any manager comes now and says that he would say he would like one of my players. That's not ethical, that's not correct.''

Mourinho has, though, in recent months admitted there are certain players that he would have kept at United. The Portuguese says he would never have sold Angel Di Maria, Danny Welbeck or Javier Hernandez, saying the latter was the kind of "killer'' striker United would have loved last season.

Two years after Louis van Gaal allowed the Mexico international to leave Old Trafford for Bayer Leverkusen, he is back in the Premier League and could be lining up against United for West Ham on the opening day.

Asked if he was tempted to bring Hernandez back to the club, Mourinho said: "No, because he left the club a few years ago. I am not sure that it was his decision or the manager's decision.

"But he's a good player, he's a player that will always score goals, so he is a player I would always welcome in my squad because he doesn't need many minutes on the pitch to score a goal.

"But we moved in another direction and a younger player in Lukaku. We have [Marcus] Rashford that can be also a striker, he is originally a striker, so we didn't feel that need.

"But no doubt that for West Ham to get a player with his experience and his quality is very, very good."

Mourinho also vowed to leave Manchester United in a "much, much, much better" state than the club he took over.

There were always going to be teething problems when Sir Alex Ferguson called time on his trophy-laden spell at Old Trafford, but few could have foreseen quite how tough it would be.

Successor David Moyes did not even see through his first season at the helm, with next-up Louis van Gaal paying the price for his prosaic football and inability to secure Champions League qualification and being sacked following the 2015-16 campaign.

Mourinho has struggled to immediately turn around United's Premier League fortunes, but Europa League, EFL Cup and Community Shield glory has helped bring a winning mentality back to the club.

And the Old Trafford boss recently said he would love to be at the club for a further 15 years -- but whenever he leaves, he wants the club to be stronger than when he found them.

"I would like the next manager to arrive -- not now -- but I would like the next manager to arrive and to find a much, much, much better club and team than I found at every level," Mourinho said.

"I found an amazing club with an amazing history, but not ready for me to win.

"[I want to win] and I want the next one to win too."

Upon his unveiling last summer, Mourinho said United needed to forget the previous three years and re-find the winning "routine" that had gone missing.

"You know, we won three trophies and the Europa League was very difficult to win, but it is not the Champions League," he said, speaking at Georgetown in Washington.

"We went to the Europa League as one of the top teams, we go to the Champions League and we are not one of the top teams.

"We have to be better, much better for that objective.

"So, you know, we cannot be just thinking that we won, like I say, two-and-a-half trophies, like we did last season.

"This season is going to be more difficult but I think we have also better conditions to fight for the Premier League against fantastic teams, against amazing investments.

"But I believe in our group, in our spirit, in our empathy, in our togetherness, in our happiness to be together, in our happiness to work together. I trust my boys and we are going to try."

The squad certainly seem to enjoy working together, while Mourinho has more often than not been seen with a smile on his face during the American tour.

Questions over Mourinho's happiness were raised during his first campaign at Old Trafford, yet he feels even more enthused and motivated than when leading Porto to their shock Champions League triumph in 2004.

"More -- more than before," Mourinho said. "More than before and better prepared than before.

"Porto was 2004, 13 years later it looked so fast for me. I think when it looked so fast it is because you love it so much.

"Because when time flies, it is because you enjoy that time. When time looks very slow, it is because you are not enjoying and it never ends.

"So 13 years was like a finger click and I am ready for 13 more."

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