Reports: Manchester United contact Bundesliga giants for top transfer target

What's the rumour?

Manchester United are running around like a bull in a china shop in a bid to shore up their defence. They have been linked with a long list of names but with nothing materializing on any of those fronts, they have finally contacted Bayern Munich over a potential deal for veteran centre-back Jerome Boateng, according to The Bild.

The report goes on to state that Bayern Munich are willing to sell the player for a fee of £45 million.

In case you didn't know...

Manchester United have, over the course of the past few weeks, been linked with Toby Alderweireld of Tottenham Hotspur, Harry Maguire of Leicester City and Yerry Mina of Barcelona in addition to Jerome Boateng.

Jose Mourinho had made signing a centre-back his priority and with only a couple of days left in the transfer window, he will need to expedite the process or start the season with a shaky defence.

The heart of the matter

Jerome Boateng used to be one of the best centre-backs in the world. But injury problems have restricted him from playing to his true potential. The big defender who is 29-years-old now is not the most formidable chap Mourinho could have hoped to sign but he'd still be an improvement on the likes of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones.

Boateng played 45 minutes against Manchester United in yesterday's pre-season friendly. Interestingly, Boateng used to play for Manchester City before securing a switch to Bayern Munich in 2011 where he has enjoyed a trophy-laden career.

He has won the Bundesliga a whopping 6 times with Bayern Munich. He is also a Champions League winner.

PSG were also reportedly in the hunt for Boateng. Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had confirmed this too.

He had said,

"At the moment there is no direct contact between the clubs. But there is contact between his agents and PSG.

"We have to wait, if we could find a basis for a transfer.

"Now we have to wait and see whether, at the end of the day, we find a basis on which we can agree on a transfer.

"We have to find a transfer fee that would be acceptable for both."

Rumour rating/probability: 5/10

With the Premier League transfer window closing on the 9th, it does not make much sense for United to have just contacted Bayern now. However, it is a fee that they'd be willing to meet and they are in desperate need of a centre-back as well. So, this could go either way.

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What's next?

Well, United could find a better alternative. The error-prone Boateng might not be the best option. But we're nearing the 25th hour and the Red Devils are desperate to sign a centre-back. If this transfer happens, United will have an experienced campaigner to marshall the backline. And that's the best that they can hope to get.