MANCHESTER UNITED’S shock raid of Bayern Munich could see them complete a rare deal that has never been seen in the Premier League era.
The Red Devils are reportedly targeting Leroy Sane, Leon Goretzka and Alphonso Davies in a triple January swoop.
Sane, 28, could be available this winter after falling down the pecking order under Vincent Kompany.
Having recovered from an injury that ruled him out the start of the season, the winger has played just 78 minutes across four games.
And the German sees his contract expire at Bayern next summer.
Should Sane join Man Utd, he will become the first player in the Premier League era to move to Old Trafford after a spell at City.
The last player represent the red half of Manchester after blue was Peter Barnes.
He played for City from 1974 to 1979 and then had a three-year spell at United a decade later.
Legend Denis Law and Wyn Davies both saw their careers go down the same path in the 60s and 70s respectively.
Many players have played for both Manchester clubs in the Prem like Peter Schmeichel, Andrei Kanchelskis, Andy Cole, Carlos Tevez and Owen Hargreaves.
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But all of them played for United before their bitter rivals.
Jadon Sancho did come through the City academy before joining Erik ten Hag’s side – but he never played a senior game for them.
Along with Sane on United’s radar is left-back Davies, 23, who also sees his Bayern deal expire in 2025.
As for Goretzka, 29, he has seen his minutes restricted this term, playing just once in six Bundesliga games.
Man Utd are used to negotiations with Bayern as they signed Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui in a £60m double deal in the summer.
SunSport's DAVE KIDD says Erik ten Hag's time at Man Utd is up… and explains what's wrong with all the potential candidates to replace him.
THIS is a mid-table squad at an underachieving club, with a lot of unwanted players on big money.
And Ratcliffe is an instinctive cost-cutter who may not pay top dollar to the next manager.
If this club wasn’t called ‘Manchester United’, it wouldn’t be an especially desirable job.
The good news for United is that their new sporting director, Dan Ashworth, is a very decent judge of a manager.
He has been instrumental in three previous managerial appointments — Gareth Southgate for England, Graham Potter for Brighton and Eddie Howe for Newcastle.
None were wildly popular at the time, all were conspicuous successes.
Interestingly, Ashworth’s No 1 choice for the Newcastle job was Unai Emery, who turned him down to stay at Villarreal but has since proved that judgment right by excelling at Aston Villa.
Emery may well deliver the coup de grace to Ten Hag on Sunday — especially with Bruno Fernandes suspended and Kobbie Mainoo an injury doubt.
And the Spaniard would be an excellent fit for United — yet there is next to no chance that he would abandon Villa’s Champions League campaign to take the Old Trafford job, not least because he isn’t a stark raving madman.
Howe would be another good candidate to succeed Ten Hag but, although he has become frustrated on Tyneside, the Saudis would surely not allow Ratcliffe to poach Howe, as they reluctantly did with Ashworth.
Potter is available but his Chelsea experience and lack of charisma would make him a tough sell.
Which brings us to Southgate, who remains close with Ashworth and is an excellent man-manager who was seriously considered by United last spring.
Yet, despite having led England to two of their three major finals, Southgate’s reputation for over-caution was only enhanced during the Euros.
Mauricio Pochettino, passed over twice by United, is out of the equation having taken the United States job.
Thomas Tuchel would be a popular and gettable option but, despite being a fine coach and a very engaging man, he is considered something of a loose cannon.
Likewise, Roberto De Zerbi, now at Marseille after his brief Brighton stint sparkled then fizzled out.
Kieran McKenna — a gifted former United coach who has won back-to-back promotions with Ipswich Town — is an intriguing candidate but the imminent vacancy may come a year or so too soon.
Marco Silva, the extremely under-rated Fulham boss, has been on United’s radar and should not be discounted.
Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim, last season’s ‘next big thing’, was passed over by West Ham as well as Liverpool this summer and is not an easy man to pin down.
Zinedine Zidane, who has taken over from Alan Curbishley as a 20-1 shot for every Premier League job, is a ‘figurehead’ manager and not an Ashworth type.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, the former United goal machine who joined Ten Hag’s coaching team in the summer is the bookies’ favourite. Simply because he’s in the building and he’s Dutch.
So, yes, getting rid of Ten Hag is the easy part.
