Transfer Balls: Man Utd Put £15m Aside To Fund Move For Dortmund Midfielder Ilkay Gundogan

Alan Duffy

11th, April 2015

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By Alan Duffy

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With defender Mats Hummels’ £35million signature apparently already in the bag for Manchester United, the Daily Mail now reports that  Red Devils’ boss Louis van Gaal is planning to add midfielder Ilkay Gundogan to his shopping basket in a Dortmund shopping-spree totalling £50million.

The 24-year-old deep-lying midfielder was a lynchpin in Jurgen Klopp’s all-conquering Dortmund side, with the German international scoring from the penalty spot in the 2013 Champions League final against Bayern Munich – though serious injury then robbed the former Nurnberg man of his place in Germany’s  2014 World Cup-winning squad.

Back to fitness now and doing his best to help kick-start Dortmund’s poor season, Gundogan has so far refused to sign a new deal with the Bundesliga giants, with his current contract running out next year.

Seen by Van Gaal as the missing piece in his midfield jigsaw, the German would be a top-notch replacement for Michael Carrick, who is well into the autumn of his career.

Indeed, a central midfield duo of Gundogan and Ander Herrera certainly looks tasty, and with a fee of just £15million for the German, it would be a fine bit of business, even when taking his recent injury woes into consideration.

However, one wonders if it would have the requisite physical presence in front of the back-four for Premier League glory.

We at Pies rate at this one as a definite possibility.