Man Utd must pay £44.7million to trigger release clause of Porto centre back Eder Militao

JOSE MOURINHO must pay £44.7million to trigger the release clause of Porto centre back Eder Militao, according to reports.

The Manchester United boss is determined to strengthen his defensive options in the January transfer window.

Mourinho has been strongly linked with Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly - who will cost more than £90m.

Such a colossal sum - a world record fee for a defender - might be too much mid-season.

If so, that could pave the way to landing 20-year-old Brazil star Militao, say the .

Mourinho is said to be conscious of executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward's preference for investing in youth over splurging on established stars.

Woodward is believed to be making the Portuguese boss stick to a model that saw them sign Diogo Dalot from Porto last summer.

That would tie in nicely with a move for Militao, who United scouts watched star in Porto's 1-0 win over Boavista recently.

Mourinho's former club bought Militao on a five-year deal from Sao Paulo in the summer.

However, Militao's agent recently tried to dampen the rumours.

Ulisses Jorge said: "All these clubs already had interest in Eder when he was at Sao Paulo.

"Since the player move to FC Porto, nobody came to me. Eder is very calm. He is happy at Porto and he is not thinking about anything other than Porto."

Everton have also been linked with a move for Militao.