Red Devils in £10m Cottage link

Manchester United will reportedly try and steal a march on their rivals by making a £10million bid for Fulham's Moussa Dembele.

The 24-year-old Belgian playmaker has attracted interest from a host of clubs this past season with the likes of United, champions Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea and Liverpool all thought to have been monitoring his progress at Craven Cottage. However, it seems Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who is looking for a long-term replacement for veteran Paul Scholes at Old Trafford, will move quickly with a big money offer to try and entice the Cottagers to sell Dembele. Cottagers boss Martin Jol is desperate to keep hold of Dembele, who joined the Londoners after helping AZ Alkmaar lift the Dutch title in 2009, but could be tempted to offload him as he is about to enter the final year of his contract and would be able to leave on a Bosman free transfer next year. It has also been reported that Fulham could allow Dembele to depart for pastures new if they are successful with their £3.5million bid to sign FC Twente's Nacer Chadli.