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Football

14th Feb 2017

Bayern Munich official confirms €100m bid from Manchester United for forward

Not a bad option, if the move for Antoine Griezmann doesn't happen...

Robert Redmond

Could they resist a second bid?

Manchester United are clearly in the market for a new forward this summer.

Wayne Rooney appears set to leave the club after 13 years, with China or the United States the most likely destinations.

It’s difficult to justify his astronomical wages when he’s warming the bench, and the player himself arguably has nothing left to achieve at Old Trafford.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has scored 20 goals in 34 games this season, and may stay for another season.

However, the Swede will be 36 in October, and therefore doesn’t represent the long-term future of United.

There’s also the fact that United have been somewhat wasteful in front of goal this season. Following the goalless draw against Hull City at Old Trafford at the beginning of February, Jose Mourinho’s side had hit 391 shots at goal in the current campaign, but had scored just 33 league goals.

That’s a conversion rate of just 8.44 per cent.

United have since beat Leicester City 3-0, and Watford 2-0, but it appears almost certain that a new striker will be moving to Old Trafford in the summer.

Antoine Griezmann has been heavily linked with a €100m move from Atletico Madrid. However, if that move fails to materialise, another attempt to try sign Thomas Muller might not be a bad idea.

According to Jan-Christian Dreeson, a member of Bayern Munich’s board of management, the German club received, and rejected, a world record bid for the 27-year-old.

When asked by Bild if Bayern had received a €100m bid for Muller, Dreeson said:

“There really was something like that. Then came a fax from England. For us, however, a sale of Thomas Muller was never discussed.

“If a player fits us, we would be stupid to give him a short-term prospect of a record profit and to weaken him.”

Muller is one of the best forwards in the world, but is experiencing a difficult season. The German has scored just four goals in 26 games, compared with 32 in 49 games last year.

However, there’s no doubt he’d improve the United front line.