Old Trafford side ready to splash the cash on Aston Villa, AC Milan, Juventus, AS Roma and Borussia Dortmund stars.
Man United boss Louis van Gaal has his sights firmly set on another spending spree with the Old Trafford manager eyeing up as many as five possible signings in the January transfer window.
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It appears that Man United’s money-men are happy to back van Gaal financially, having handed the Dutchman over £150m to invest in his squad over the summer, and clearly realise that investment in the club’s playing staff is key to their recovering following last term’s shocking seventh place Premier League finish.
Moves to repair Man United’s central defence seem uppermost in van Gaal’s planning and the Premier League giants are readying a move for Aston Villa’s Ron Vlaar.
Van Gaal is confident he can lure Vlaar to join his side and chief executive Ed Woodward is readying a £7m bid for the 29 year old Villa Park skipper.
The former Feyenoord man, who played a prominent role in van Gaal’s national team set-up at the 2014 World Cup finals, is into the final year of his Aston Villa contract and despite his side’s excellent start to the campaign Man United are confident they can tempt the tough tackler to make a January move.
Louis van Gaal is also looking at another Dutch international, in the form of uncompromising defensive midfielder Nigel de Jong.
The AC Milan man is in a similar contractual situation to Vlaar and Man United are ready to offer £9m for the former Man City man, an offer that Filippo Inzaghi may accept as he continues to set about building a more youthful San Siro squad.
The 29 year old enforcer could provide valuable strength in the middle of the park and whilst new signing Daley Blind offers a similar steely ability arguably the former Ajax man is a more rounded performer.
De Jong would provide more strength in depth and could offer van Gaal a cost effective option to boost the quality of his squad.
Man United will step-up their interest in Juventus playmaker Arturo Vidal, with the Chilean still very much a Louis van Gaal target despite recently signings.
The 27 year old was said to be close to moving to Old Trafford over the summer but seemingly the formal bids registered didn’t tempt the Serie A side to sell.
The Old Trafford outfit will return with a £30m offer and it’s a January bid that may be accepted by Juventus if they have not successfully negotiated their way through the Champions League group stage.
Indeed it’s Juventus’s inability to ‘crack’ the Champions League that could be a factor when Vidal considers his future in Turin, that and the departure of manager Antonio Conte.
Vidal has been a pivotal performer in Juventus’s three successive domestic title campaigns and offers a real goal threat from midfield and may well be open to following fellow countryman Alexis Sanchez to the Premier League.
Man United prime target for the January transfer window comes in the form of Borussia Dortmund’s Mats Hummels, who is the man Louis van Gaal wants to build his defence around.
Currently, with Phil Jones suffering with injury concerns, van Gaal has had to resort to using youngster Tyler Blackett and off form Northern Irishman Jonny Evans and Hummels would be a huge improvement in the central defensive area.
Having seen his Westfalenstadion side fall behind domestic rivals, and former club, Bayern Munich dominate domestically Hummels could be open to a fresh challenge and Man United will launch a £25m bid for the World Cup winner in January.
Finally the Man United bos continues to hold a torch for AS Roma’s Kevin Strootman, a player who rose to prominence in Louis van Gaal’s Dutch national team set-up, and fitness pending the Premier League side are prepared to stump up as much as £25m for the tigerish midfielder.
Strootman moved to the Stadio Olimpico last summer and showed great promise before being sidelined with a long term knee injury in March, which curtailed his involvement at the World Cup finals.
Louis van Gaal is keen to bring in the box to box performer and is ready to trim his midfield options in order to may room for such an addition.
Man United are ready to sell Belgian Marouane Fellaini and will hope to make Tom Cleverley’s Aston Villa loan move a permanent one to help balance the books.