Toby Alderweireld, Harry Maguire, Jerome Boateng and Yerry Mina – Manchester United are hoping one of them will be their player come the close of the transfer deadline on Thursday.

Alderweireld has long be the man who Jose Mourinho wanted, but despite talks for months – United and Tottenham have been unable to agree terms. Tottenham are willing to accept a deal worth around £55million but it does not appear United will go to £50million for the Belgian.

England star Maguire is one who has emerged in recent weeks, with sources close to the player stating he wants to move to Old Trafford – but in-turn Leicester are insistent they don’t want to sell and are ready to offer him a bumper new deal.

That said Leicester are set to spend more than £30million on deadline day to sign defenders Filip Benkovic from Dinamo Zagreb and Caglar Soyuncu from Freiburg, but again Leicester insist they does not impact on Maguire.

Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng is understood to be keen – but it is understood United only want a loan deal for him, but the player is keen to return to Manchester, where he previously starred for rivals City.

The fourth player is Barcelona’s Yerry Mina, who again is believed to be keen on making the move – but he also has strong interest from the likes of Everton and Lyon, and he has to make a decision on his future.

Mourinho himself has admitted on Thursday that he is not confident of getting anyone.

“The information I have is no. I’m not confident [of signing anyone],” said Mourinho.

“The market closes today so there’s time at least for me to stop thinking about it.

“I will have to focus on the players I have in relation to the first three matches, because after Spurs there is an international break and I have a couple of weeks to recover people and prepare them better. I have to focus on the players that are available.”

Bookmakers firmly believe that Spurs man Alderweireld is the most likely to end up at Old Trafford.

Spokesman Paddy Power said: “Jose Mourinho looks to be scrambling to get a defender in his team before the deadline – either that he’s just that keen on getting rid of Chris Smalling.

“Following today’s links, the odds have fallen dramatically on Jerome Boateng being his player of choice, but he needs to act fast.”