Jose Mourinho says he has had to change his transfer plans because Manchester United cannot match clubs who "buy and buy and buy non-stop".
United beat Chelsea to the £75million signing of Romelu Lukaku and have also drafted in Sweden defender Victor Lindelof from Benfica, while Ivan Perisic and Nemanja Matic are also thought to be close to moving to Old Trafford.
However, Mourinho may have to choose between Inter's Croatian winger and the Chelsea man, who Mourinho won the Premier League with at Stamford Bridge in 2015.
Manchester City have added Ederson, Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker and Douglas Luiz, while Chelsea are closing in on the signing of Alvaro Morata to add to Tiemoue Bakayoko, Antonio Rudiger and Willy Caballero.
And, having seen deals for Antoine Griezmann, Morata and Eric Dier fall short, Mourinho says United are struggling to strike deals, just a year after breaking the world transfer record to sign Paul Pogba.
"I asked for four players," Mourinho said. "But I'm ready to go from four to thee because the market is difficult and some clubs, they think the market is different than the others.
"We are not a club that is ready to buy and buy and buy non-stop.
"We are not a club that is ready to pay what the clubs want us to pay.
"So I am ready to go from four signings to three. And with this three I just give a better balance to the team and to the squad and give us better conditions to compete."
