Red Devils may have to wait until the summer though to complete the next stage of their rebuilding process.
Premier League champions Manchester United will now set their sights on landing the Atletico de Madrid duo of Filipe Luis and Diego Costa after finally putting the finishing touches to their club-record £37.1m capture of Chelsea wide man Juan Mata over the weekend, according to reports in the Daily Mail.
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The Red Devils expect the Spain international to go straight into their matchday squad for Tuesday night’s Premier League showdown with struggling Cardiff City at Old Trafford, however, United head coach David Moyes does not expect Mata’s big-money arrival to be the last piece of business that the top-flight giants do, although the Scot may now have to wait until the end of the season before he lands his other transfer targets.
And it is understood that the next two players on the Scot’s wish list are the Atletico pair of Filipe Luis and Costa, with United having sent their scouts over to Spain on Sunday night to watch the two players in action first hand as Diego Simeone’s high-flying La Liga outfit overcame Rayo Vallecano 4-2 on the road.
Filipe Luis, 28, is Brazil international left back whose current contract at the Vincente Calderon runs until June 2017, while Costa, 25, is a prolific Brazil-born striker with a deal in the Spanish capital until 2018.