The futures of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Luke Shaw and Marouane Fellaini are all under scrutiny with the January transfer window opening in a fortnight.
Mkhitaryan has been frozen out to the extent that he has not even made the match-day squad for seven of the last eight games; Shaw’s game time has been limited by Ashley Young’s outstanding form at left-back, while Fellaini can leave on a free transfer in the summer after rejecting the offer of a new contract and United might be tempted to cash in on January.
Mourinho says he will not stand in any player’s way if he wants out and points to the example of unsettled pair Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay who he sold to Everton and Lyon respectively last January for a combined £50million.
He said: “I think players can go for the right price. That’s my approach as a manager, in cases where the club advises me. I think every player has a price.
“If a player is not happy, if a player brings with him the request with the number that we consider a good number for us – like it happened for us last season with Memphis and Morgan – I would never say no.”
United go to West Brom tomorrow with Mourinho claiming his experience of helping Real Madrid emerge from the shadow of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona during his three years in Spain will be a benefit as he tries to help United keep pace with Guardiola’s Manchester City.
With an 11-point deficit to make up, United cannot afford any slip-ups but Mourinho says he is up for the challenge.
He said: “When I went to Real Madrid, they were in a difficult moment, no league title or cup, not even a Champions League quarter-final for many years. It was hard but it was good for my development as a manager too which is something that I always try to do.
“I signed a three-year contract here because it was the time myself and the board decided on. I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy job.
“I go to clubs with a huge history where people look to the history and not to the moment and expectations are high. The job is difficult but I’ve had that experience before at other clubs, so it is nothing new.”
Mourinho has confirmed fears that defender Eric Bailly needs an ankle operation that could sideline him for three months.
The Ivory Coast centre-back has been out since the start of November after picking up the injury while on international duty. Manchester United had hoped that treatment would avoid the need for surgery but time has run out on that option and Mourinho says the £30 million former Villarreal star will go under the knife and he will not be back until the end of March.
West Brom moved out of the relegation zone following a 0-0 draw at Liverpool on Wednesday. The point still leaves a club record run of 16 games without a win but manager Alan Pardew said: “I’m not sure there’s many teams that would have got a clean sheet at Liverpool particularly with the strikeforce they put out.
“Every game that’s how we’ve got to enter it. We might struggle to get seven, eight or nine wins we need, so we need to pick up points everywhere and that was a great point.”