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What's the story
Manchester United and Manchester City are all set to take their feud out into the transfer market with Jose Mourinho refusing to give-up on what looks like a season lost to his arch-rival Pep Guardiola.
This sees the two clubs go all the way over to Germany, where they are ready to scrap it out over Borussia Dortmund's highly rated central midfielder Julian Weigl. While Guardiola has always been a huge admirer of the £54 million (or €60 million) rated defensive minded midfielder, it is understood by the good folk over at the Independent that United are in the forefront of the race with Henrikh Mkhitaryan the obvious makeweight in the deal, strengthening their hand as they can offer a cash + player deal to convince the German outfit.
In case you didn't know
Dortmund have a strong history of taking back former players who don't do quite as well as expected once they move on - the likes of Shinji Kagawa, Mario Gotze, Nuri Sahin are all testament to that and there are strong reports emanating out of Germany that the club would welcome back their former assist king, Henrikh Mkhitaryan with open arms.
The heart of the matter
The move to sign Weigl appears to have stemmed out of Mourinho's belief that the centre of the park needs more stability - Weigl alongside Matic would form a perfectly solid platform upon which Paul Pogba can roam about and do his magic.
At just 22 years old, Weigl is one for the future as well and could well help form the backbone of United's future plans.
Video
For those who don't really follow the Bundesliga, here's Weigl in action
Lad can play, can't he?
Author's Take
A move to sign Weigl would make sense for Mourinho - both in terms of taking him out of his great rivals grasp, and in terms of introducing more class and solidity into a midfield where Ander Herrera's lack of form is a bit of a concern. With Mkhitaryan supposedly out-of-favour with the gaffer, this could just well be a win-win for the two clubs.
