Man Utd Shelve Stadium Expansion Plans to Save Funds for Mourinho Summer Spending Spree

Manchester United will forego pressing ahead with plans to expand Old Trafford's capacity to back Jose Mourinho in the summer transfer window.

That is according to the Daily Mail, who have reported that the Premier League giants have shelved their proposals to increase their current 75,000 seater stadium and hand over significant funds to their first-team boss instead.

United were thought to have drawn up plans to bolster their home ground with an additional 13,000 seats to improve the atmosphere and corporate facilities at the Theatre of Dreams.

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But a club insider is alleged to have told the Mail that the Red Devils' financial priority is handing Mourinho a major transfer warchest so he can press ahead with strengthening his senior side ahead of trying to win the league title next term.

United sit in second place in England's top flight but lie a seemingly insurmountable 13 points behind their major rivals Manchester City.

It is a gap that has left United fans perturbed, given how Mourinho has splashed £300m on new signings since he took up the reins in the summer of 2016.

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Mourinho and the club's fanbase are believed to have made mention of the subdued atmosphere on the terraces, with many claiming that the current layout doesn't lend itself well to creating a bear pit-esque cauldron of noise.

The Manchester United Supporters Trust recently called for a reworking of the seating arrangement on home turf, with the belief that the large corporate section in the Stretford End was diminishing the noise inside the stadium.

Furthermore, a breakthrough with regards to the Sir Bobby Charlton stand would allow for that stand to undergo a capacity increase without disrupting the railway line that lies behind it.

Those plans have now been shelved though as United's hierarchy seeks to give Mourinho financial backing in the transfer market instead.

The likes of Michael Carrick, Ashley Young, Antonio Valencia and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are all the wrong side of 30 and Mourinho needs to inject fresh blood into his squad to make a good bash of securing a first league trophy for the club in six years.