Manchester United were interested in signing Eric Dier over the summer but Jose Mourinho says Nemanja Matic was always the player he “really wanted”.

Eric Dier is likely to be among the starters against a club whose interest in signing him is well documented, with the Tottenham boss saying in his new book that Mourinho’s interest “destabilised” the England international.

Pochettino insists they have moved on from the issue and his United counterpart certainly feels things have worked out well, having instead signed Matic from former club Chelsea for an initial ?35m.

“I have the player that I want to have,” Mourinho said of the defensive midfielder.

“Probably I have the player that I didn’t think it was possible to have, but in the end we got the player that I really wanted.”