Man Utd and Paris Saint-Germain have made huge offers to sign Ademola Lookman from Serie A side Atalanta, according to reports.
The Red Devils made five signings in the summer transfer window as they looked to give Erik ten Hag their full support after deciding to keep him on over the summer.
Joshua Zirkzee, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs de Ligt, Leny Yoro and Noussair Mazraoui all joined before the end of the summer market but they have yet to have the impact the Man Utd hierarchy and fans were hoping.
Ten Hag was sacked after winning just three of the Red Devils’ opening nine Premier League matches with Ruben Amorim replacing him a week ago.
Man Utd are currently 13th in the Premier League table after interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy added another four points to their Premier League total before leaving the club earlier this week.
Amorim will play a different formation to Ten Hag at Man Utd and there are concerns that he won’t have the players required to play that system straight away.
That could see the Red Devils enter the transfer market to try and give Amorim the tools to get Man Utd challenging for Premier League titles in the long term but up the table in the short term.
There have been reports that the Premier League club are interested in Bayern Munich winger Leroy Sane but now there are claims in Spain that they have launched a bid for Atalanta’s Lookman.
It is understood that both Man Utd and PSG ‘have submitted offers close to 100 million euros (£84m) for the Nigerian winger, who has become one of the sensations of Serie A with Atalanta’.
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Lookman ‘would fit perfectly into the plans’ of new boss Amorim with his ‘versatility and ability to create danger in the opposition’s box make him a highly desirable addition’.
In a boost to Man Utd and PSG, Atalanta are ‘looking favourably on the sale’ with the Serie A side proving historically ‘to be adept at handling the departure of key players’.
Amorim will certainly need help in the transfer market, unless some of his current players turn their form around and former Man City defender Richard Dunne reckons Man Utd have been the flops of the season so far.
Dunne told Gambling Zone: “It’s hard to pick on any one player as someone that has disappointed this season.
“If you’re looking at a team, it’s difficult to look beyond Man United. They have underperformed for what their expectations are at the club.
“They gave Erik Ten Hag a new contract and expected bigger and brighter things, but there didn’t seem to be that investment from the players in to what he was trying to do. They didn’t seem to buy in the fact that Ten Hag was staying.
“What he wanted to do didn’t inspire any of their players, so I think a few of them have come out and said they’re disappointed with what they’ve done in the first period of the season and disappointed that it led to the sacking of Ten Hag.
“Between now and the end of the season they’ve got a new manager. They’ve got 25 games + to go and prove themselves. A lot of these players will be fighting for their Man United future.
“For Man United to be successful, they need their best players trying regardless of who the manager is. They’ve got a lot to prove over the next seven, eight months.”
