Manchester United have what is described as an open door at signing Leon Goretzka in 2025, with the player frustrated at his treatment by Vincent Kompany and why a transfer from Bayern Munich could go through coming to light.
The Red Devils invested some £180m in five new players over the summer transfer window, with two of those, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, arriving from Bayern Munich for fees that will reach £42.9m (€50m, $56.7m) and £17.2m (€20.4m, $22.7m) respectively.
And while both have become fixtures of the Manchester United side this season, it is evident Erik ten Hag’s side are still a work in progress and still bound by the inconsistencies that blighted their campaign last time around.
One area that was targeted for improvement was in central midfield, with United also shelling out a fee that will ultimately top £50.7m (€60m, $67m) for Manuel Ugarte.
However, with debate still lingering over the longevity of Casemiro at the very top level, it comes as no surprise to see the Red Devils being linked with several possible replacements.
To that end, Fichajes claimed last week that United were weighing up future moves for Crystal Palace star Adam Wharton and Hayden Hackney of Middlesbrough.
Now The Sun claims they are also on high alert over a possible move to sign Goretzka, who has been left ‘upset’ by his lack of minutes under Vincent Kompany this season.
They claim that both United and West Ham are weighing up moves for the 57-times capped Germany international – and with two years left on his contract, an opportunity may well present itself to snare the experienced 29-year-old star.
made 38 appearances in the 2019/20 season as Bayern won the Bundesliga, the Champions League and the DFB-Pokal.
He also enjoyed his most productive campaign on an individual level, registering eight goals and 11 assists in all competitions.
The Germany international struggled with illness and injury problems in the following two seasons, which limited him to 26 starts in all competitions in both 2020/21 and 2021/22.
He still managed to provide eight goals and eight assists for the club in 2020/21 but that dropped to three goals and three assists in 2021/22.
Goretzka put his injury issues behind him in 2022/23 and registered six goals and six assists in 40 appearances in all competitions as Bayern won their 11th consecutive Bundesliga title.
He was a regular under Thomas Tuchel in 2023/24 and Harry Kane, Joshua Kimmich and Konrad Laimer were the only Bayern players to make more appearances than him.
The 29-year-old also registered six goals and 11 assists in his 42 appearances, but he was criticised for some poor performances and was left out of the Germany squad at Euro 2024.
He has now fallen out of favour under Kompany and has made just one substitute appearance at the start of this season.
“Leon has been at Bayern for a very, very long time. He was very successful and is a great player,” Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund said after a DFB Pokal first-round win against Ulm.
“We spoke to him and made it clear to him that there’s a lot of competition in his position. We are very well equipped there. Leon knows that. And that’s why the situation is like this at the moment, and why he’s not in the squad today.”