Jose Mourinho's hunt for a centre-back is set to go down right to the wire.

It's no secret that the Manchester United boss is desperate for a new, commanding defender to sort out his backline.

While the Red Devils conceded the second least amount of goals in 2017/18 - just one more than champions Manchester City - Mourinho knows improvements need to be made.

Chris Smalling is a disaster waiting to happen, Phil Jones is injury-prone, Victor Lindelof needs time to adapt and Eric Bailly hasn't earned the manager's trust.

The less said about Marcos Rojo, the better - the Argentine could be off to Wolves, as per Telegraph.

According to the Independent, Tottenham's Toby Alderweireld is the man Mourinho views as the ideal man to fill the leadership void in his defence.

Recognised as one of the best in the Premier League, the Belgian would make those around him better.

Even Leicester's Harry Maguire is being eyed up for the role, but Alderweireld's experience is the key factor here.

But Spurs are proving a tough nut to crack with regards to selling their star centre-back, meaning United would have to meet Daniel Levy's valuation to sign him.

That amount would be well north of £50m, despite Alderweireld only having one year left on his contract - Spurs do have an option to extend by another year.

Mourinho's hunt for a centre-back is likely to go right down the wire and one of the manager's fallback plans if they fail to do so will worry United fans.

The Independent report that Mourinho is actually considering playing midfielder Nemanja Matic in the role.

Yes, you read that correctly.

It would be a move that could prove catastrophic to this unbalanced United squad.

Not only would they lose their most important man in midfield, but they would be playing someone completely out of position.

While Matic's passing ability would likely help Mourinho's side play out from the back better, his positioning would be all over the place.