Manchester United have fixed their immediate problems but there's still a lot of long-term planning to do.

Sacking Jose Mourinho and bringing in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has proven to be a masterstroke - although no one would have predicted that at the start of the season.

The United legend has won every game so far and closed the gap on fifth-placed Arsenal to just three points.

It's not much of a secret that Solksjaer isn't first-choice for the United hot seat going forward, however.

Mauricio Pochettino is thought to be the one they want, as tough as negotiating a deal with Tottenham Hotspur would be.

But their next manager isn't the only big arrival United are planning.

One of Mourinho's biggest failures this season was his inability to convince the board to go big on a new centre back, although it now looks like they'll do just that.

Mourinho isn't there anymore but the need for a new centre back is, and United have picked out two high-priority targets, according to the Mirror.

The top target is Kalidou Koulibaly, quite possibly the most in-demand defender around today. The Napoli player is also said to be a target for Real Madrid, while we know that it'll take a fee approaching £100m to get him.

Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis claims that he rejected a £95m bid from United in the summer, and while that claim is denied by those at Old Trafford, it does show the kind of money he'll be expecting.

But Koulibaly isn't the only player United are paying attention to.

The club are also very interested in 20-year-old Brazilian defender Eder Militao, currently at FC Porto.

Militao has a £45m release clause and is also wanted by Manchester City - although United are the ones showing the most interest.

They sent scouts to watch Militao against Nacional last week and it's clear that they see the youngster as a valuable player to have.

As much as United would almost certainly love to sign each of them this month, it looks like they'll have to wait until January to pounce.

It highlights just what the rest of the season is for Solskjaer and co.; the current boss's role is to steady the ship and get United in position to execute their long-term plans.

And he's doing a brilliant job of that so far.