Bruno Ribeiro: Port Vale manager may ask Jose Mourinho for Man Utd loan players

Mourinho visited the Potteries last season at the Britannia Stadium, not long before his exit from Chelsea

New Port Vale manager Bruno Ribeiro hopes new players will start arriving at the up-for-sale League One club inside the next week.

But he may delay exploiting his friendship with new Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho to attract loan signings to the Potteries.

"We will see," Ribeiro told BBC Radio Stoke. "First we have to look at the players here to see what we have got."

The 40-year-old currently has only 10 players under contract at Vale Park.

He has inherited goalkeepers Jak Alnwick and Ryan Boot, defenders Ben Purkiss, Remie Streete and Nathan Smith, midfielders Sam Foley and Anthony Grant, winger Sam Kelly and striker JJ Hooper from last season's squad.

But, of the 13 players offered new deals, all of them on reduced terms, only long-serving defender Adam Yates has so far agreed a one-year contract.

Five have already moved on, defender Richard Duffy to Eastleigh, strikers Louis Dodds and AJ Leitch-Smith to Shrewsbury and winger Byron Moore has joined Bristol Rovers, while midfielder Michael O'Connor will also move, having already indicated that he wants to reduce the daily travelling from his Lincolnshire home.

Now Ribeiro needs answers from the other seven out-of-contract players before he decides what help he can get in the loan transfer market.

"We will see what we can get from the free agents," he said. "It is important to sell the players too. Then we will see if there is a possibility of taking players from Manchester United."

Mourinho - Ribeiro's best contact in the game?

Vale chairman Norman Smurthwaite appointed Ribeiro in the belief that the League One club will benefit from the former Leeds United and Sheffield United midfielder's extensive overseas contacts.

But Ribeiro's best contact could turn out to be a lot closer to home in Mouninho, who hails from the same Portuguese city, Setubal - and is now based just 40 miles away from Burslem at Old Trafford.

"We are very good friends," Ribeiro told BBC Radio Stoke. "We live in the same city. I worked with him both at Chelsea and Real Madrid for a few weeks and I learnt a lot from him."