Eto'o will join the Indomitable Lions for next month's African Cup of Nations in Angola, leaving Mourinho with little options upfront.

"Considering we will lose Eto'o for a month-and-a-half, I would like a striker in January," the Portuguese manager told reporters.

Mourinho didn’t rule out a possible move for either Bayern Munich's Luca Toni or Lazio's Goran Pandev, who are both out of favor at their respective clubs.

"It's impossible that in a given player you have all the qualities that we need," he added.

"Pandev is not Toni in the area but Toni is not Pandev in terms of speed and creativity.

"But Toni is a Bayern player and Pandev is a Lazio player and none of these players are free agents or are easy to sign.

"Hence, I leave the decision to the club. If they are able to sign one that would be good, otherwise, we will stick with what we have."