Manchester United's performances this season has emphasised the club's need to spend money in the upcoming transfer window in order to secure a solid finish come May.

But with most of that emphasis being placed on defenders and the lack of quality United have in them at the moment, their sudden interest to sign Roma midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini is a bit risky.

According to Corriere dello Sport, as cited by the Daily Star, the Red Devils are in the process of finalising a four-year deal for the Italian international and are planning to trigger his release clause for January, despite Roma not keen on letting him go before the season finishes.

Given the fact that United are not in that big of a need for midfielders, especially attacking ones, making a move for Pellegrini in January has an Alexis Sanchez situation written all over it.

José Mourinho's team is loaded with quality attackers with some of them being able to play as a winger and a midfielder. The addition of Lorenzo would only destabilise an already vulnerable United setup who are very reliant on their forwards to secure victories for them.

Pellegrini will run the risk of being left out of the first-team on a regular basis in a period that will be of high importance to Mourinho if he wants to see his team finish close to the top four or maybe sneak a place in the Champions League next season.

While at the same time, as with Sanchez, United will be left scratching their heads as to why they spent money on Lorenzo. The 22-year-old has shown potential for the Serie A club but not enough to have the most successful club in England wanting to sign you up in a January transfer window.

Mourinho's track record of snubbing players, that have a lot of potential, this season makes for Pellegrini being an easy case of 'money wasted', with Eric Bailly and Fred barely getting any game-time, while losing a lot money in the process.

Mourinho and the vice-chairman Ed Woodward should therefore rather maintain their focus on a defender that could add value and much-needed depth to the United team.