Jose Mourinho wants to bring Neymar to Manchester United and has made personal calls to the player to convince him to leave Spain, according to local reports.

The Barcelona forward has been a long-term target of United, coveted for his commercial value as much as his projection to be a future Ballon d'Or winner.

Neymar signed a new deal with the Nou Camp club in October after protracted negotiations, but is known to be uncomfortable with the ongoing legal proceedings against him and his father related to his arrival in Barcelona back in 2013.

That signing triggered an institutional crisis at Barcelona which culminated in the resignation of former president Sandro Rosell.

Neymar's new contract means that he has a release clause of around £180million, a price within reach for United. That clause rises to £200million next summer and £225million the year after before that five-year deal triggers a renegotiation clause.

Mourinho's interest in Neymar, like that of the club he now manages, is long-standing. The Portuguese wanted to sign the then-Santos forward during his time in charge of Barca's arch rivals, Real Madrid, and contact between the pair goes back to at least 2012 when agent Wagner Ribeiro and the player's father were whipping up a bidding war over the teenaged superstar.

Barcelona-based newspaper SPORT claimed on Saturday morning that those regular phonecalls, a normal transfer tactic for the Special One, began weeks ago.

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United are known to be pursuing another La Liga star, Antoine Griezmann, and an agreement for the Atletico Madrid forward is further along, as revealed by The Independent last month. He and his entourage gave the provisional 'okay' to an outline deal to join United this summer, but the player won't force an exit until he knows which continental competition Manchester United will be playing in next season.