Despite spending a whopping £150m in the summer transfer window, Manchester United are already preparing a January transfer coup as reports from the Guardian have mentioned that the Red Devils are already lining up a £30m move for Roma’s Kevin Strootman. The Dutch midfielder has a keen admirer in Van Gaal and the Red Devils were interested to bring in the player long before they were linked with Juventus for Arturo Vidal. However the horrific knee injury sustained against Napoli months before the World Cup saw the 24 year old miss out on the grandest of stages in Brazil.
The Report from Guardian also mentions that Van Gaal with United’s transfer business that has seen the arrival of these six top notch players but now wants to continue building his squad by lining up his main targets for the winter transfer window.
Strootman, who was overlooked by Moyes when leaving PSV Eindhoven for Roma in a £14m transfer during the summer of 2013. The player is due to back soon for Roma and his agent Chiel Dekker said that his client has interest from Van Gaal but has no plans to leave the Serie A soon, “He is of interest to Louis van Gaal but not related to Manchester United at this point. He’s all – so he’s creative, he’s box-to-box.”
United’s interest in Strootman is understandable, the 20 times Premier League Champions are in desperate need of a central midfielder who can also act as an anchor in front of the defensive backline and can also build attacks with his creative imagination on the ball. Strootman fits the bill perfectly having scored 5 goals for Roma before getting injured. Moreover his attacking ability and passing array will blend perfectly as United are desperate to get back into track after what has been a slow start and a dismal season last term under David Moyes.