Manchester United turn attentions to Arjen Robben

Posted Monday, January 05, 2015 by hereisthecity.com

With Gareth Bale not for sale at Real Madrid, the Sunday rumour mill has divulged that Louis van Gaal may turn to the Bayern Munich star.

Manchester United are set to try and tempt world-class winger Arjen Robben to the club, if a report in The Daily Star is to be believed.

The Old Trafford club are undergoing a period of transition, with extreme expenditure on the playing squad in recent transfer windows to try and get the historic club back challenging for silverware.

United have been linked with a move for Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale in recent times, but with Real Madrid making it clear that he is not for sale, Robben is said to be an alternative - a £24 million bid is touted in the report.

Louis van Gaal knows his compatriot well and the report states that the former Netherlands coach could well use his personal link to the Bayern Munich man to convince him to jump ship.

The article also claims that the Bundesliga giants are set to offer the former Chelsea attacker a new contract to stave off interest from United and convince Robben to remain at the Allianz Arena.

First impressions dictate that it would be something of a surprise for Robben to consider a Bayern exit, even with his admiration for Van Gaal, due to his importance to the highly successful German team.

Even if Robben was available, which he surely isn’t, United’s attacking array of stars means that they don’t have much need for the Dutch attacker anyway.

With someone like Angel Di Maria a similar player and United adopting a bespoke 3-4-1-2 formation this term, Robben’s arrival could overload the side in attacking areas.

United’s midfield and defence will surely be areas of more concern should Van Gaal make moves in the transfer window now or in the summer; the likelihood of seeing Robben in a red strip other than that of Bayern any time soon is very small.