The Manchester United supporting punters here in the Transfer Tavern have been somewhat disappointed with the early stages of the Jose Mourinho era at Old Trafford, with the contingent of fans growing frustrated with the amount of points that the Red Devils keep throwing away.

United are already 13 points shy of leaders Chelsea and perhaps more crucially they are nine points behind Manchester City in fourth place, with a return to the Champions League an immediate priority for the new United boss.

The January transfer window is on the horizon and Mourinho will already have a shortlist of targets drawn up as he looks to strengthen his squad.

One ardent United fan is sat chatting to his pals here in the Tavern and he thinks that La Liga should be the place for Mourinho to do his January shopping. With that in mind, Tavern writer Lee Clarke looked at three players from the Spanish top flight who the Portuguese boss should try and sign.

Aymeric Laporte

The 22-year-old central defender has played over 100 times in La Liga already and looks set for a bright future in professional football.

The jury remains out on Phil Jones at the heart of the United defence and an immediate priority should be to secure a world class central defender.

One United fan is playing pool here in the Tavern and he thinks that the Red Devils should do all they can to secure the Athletic Bilbao defender, stating that he is one of the brightest talents in world football.

Antoine Griezmann

Pulling off such an amazing move would probably be reasonably difficult during the transfer window in January, although that shouldn’t deter United from making an initial move.

United have already spent heavily on players during Mourinho’s time at the club but the current squad is still in desperate need of a facelift after years of mismanagement.

Our landlord here in the Tavern thinks that it would be impossible for United to snare the French forward during January, although he does think that he will play in the Premier League at some point.

Willian Jose

The Real Sociedad forward has been in fine form for the Spanish outfit this season and United could be in the market to add some more goals to their team.

The 25-year-old has netted seven times this season and the lure of playing for a club the size of Manchester United would be a massive attraction for the player.

We have a Spanish exchange student here in the Tavern this morning and he has seen a lot of Jose this campaign, believing that he would be of the required quality to improve United squad.