Manchester United had reportedly turned down a proposal from Arsenal to buy defender Phil Jones as Jose Mourinho does not want to do business with Arsene Wenger.
Mourinho, who took over the reins at United this summer, and Wenger have had a bad history in between them since the former was still the head coach at Chelsea.
The London Evening Standard reported that Arsenal have recently inquired about the availability of Jones as Wenger is still searching for central backfield reinforcements after three of his five center backs were injured during preseason.
Team captain Per Mertesacker, Gabriel Paulista, and Laurent Koscielny are still sidelined at the moment leaving the Gunners' boss with only youngsters Calum Chambers and Rob Holding at his disposal.
Wenger had recently pursued Valencia's Shkodran Mustafi, but negotiations have stalled because the La Liga outfit is now demanding Arsenal to pay the whole £43 million release clause of their center back when the deal is that he will be sold at a cut price of £30 million only.
The report noted that the 66-year-old French mentor is still "hopeful a deal can be done given Valencia's need to balance the books in order to meet with UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules", he and his scouts had continued to look for potential defender signings and one those they are reportedly targeting right now is the Red Devils' Jones.
Mourinho is said to be "under pressure to trim a bloated squad having made four summer signings", but the Special One is still keen to acquire Southampton's veteran defender Jose Fonte.
United's board of directors ordered Mourinho to sell some of his players before making a move on Fonte and Jones has been one of those players who has not been featured regularly.
Still, the 53-year-old Portuguese manager refuses to sell Jones to "his bitter rival, even if he is not central to his plans for the season ahead".
Meanwhile, Caught Offside noted that Jones "is unlikely to be a first-team regular with the likes of Chris Smalling, Eric Bailly, and Daley Blind ahead of him in the pecking order" and so it could only be a matter of time before Mourinho changes his mind in order to get Fonte.
The article said, though, that whether Jones desires to leave Old Trafford or not is "irrelevant", because Mourinho had already decided not to do business with Wenger from the beginning of his stint with United.
