Reds weigh up swoop for £55m striker Dusan

MANCHESTER UNITED are poised to join the race to sign Fiorentina goal machine Dusan Vlahovic when the transfer window opens in January.

The Italian club want £55million for the Serbian striker, who made it an impressive 28 goals in 38 games for the year yesterday when he netted in Fiorentina’s 2-1 Serie A win over Empoli.

United have had scouts watching the 21-year-old, though Arsenal, Tottenham and Juventus are among a host of other clubs who also fancy the former FK Partizan striker, who has played 14 times for his country.

United are currently relying on veteran stars Cristian Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani and remain interested in signing the Dortmund hotshot Erling Haaland in the new year. Although any January transfer movement will depend on incoming interim manager Ralf

Rangnick’s view of the current squad at Old Trafford.

And that squad, according to their caretaker manager Michael Carrick, are not a poor group despite their dismal form. Carrick takes United to leaders Chelsea today for possibly his only Premier League match in charge.

United are on a run of just one win in their last seven top-flight matches, a sequence which included the embarrassing 5-0 home defeat by bitter rivals Liverpool and culminated in the wretched 4-1 humiliation at Watford last weekend which cost Ole Gunnar Solskjaer his job.

It’s a run which has seen United plunge to ninth place in the Premier League table and if they lose at Chelsea this afternoon they will find themselves an alarming 15 points off the pace after just 13 games of the campaign.

Despite that Carrick is adamant that Rangnick will be inheriting a good team.

‘It’s very different having a poor run of results to being a poor team,’ protested Carrick after guiding United to a 2-0 win at Villarreal on Tuesday night.

‘We’ve had a spell that’s not been good enough but that doesn’t mean it’s a poor team.

‘There’s plenty left in the season, Over time, not just here but other clubs, you have bad spells and you can almost have another season within a season. Who’s to say that as a group of players they can’t go on a run again.’

Carrick restored some pride with the win in Villarreal to book a place in the Champions League knockout stages as group winners but con

cedes that United are a distance behind the levels set by Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea.

‘There’s no denying (the gap),’ he said. ‘I’ve got to be realistic, it is pretty obvious from the recent run of games.

‘But it wasn’t that long ago we finished second in the league and were on a really good curve of improvement. I don’t think that can be forgotten in terms of the potential.’