Mourinho’s side sit second in the Premier League going into tomorrow’s showdown with Liverpool at Old Trafford.
But they’re well off the pace of runaway leaders Manchester City and a summer of signings is on the cards once again.
Mourinho wants to land a new defender to partner Eric Bailly at centre-back, with a raid on Barcelona for Umtiti widely mooted.
The latest reports from Spain suggest that supposed interest is merely a decoy as the United boss eyes up his real target though.
According to Don Balon, Mourinho has identified Varane as being better suited to playing under him at United than Umtiti.
And he’s apparently using speculation regarding a potential move for the Barcelona ace as cover to go after the Real star.
Mourinho is said to believe Florentino Perez is happy to sanction a £36m (€40m) deal for Varane.
However, he’s not discounted signing Umtiti altogether if Real prove unwilling to do business.
Umtiti is widely regarded as one of Europe’s top defenders and is a key part of Ernesto Valverde’s Barcelona team.
A release clause in his Nou Camp contract means he can leave for a fixed fee of £53m (€60m) though.