Manchester United are ready to make a move for Atlético Madrid midfielder Saúl Ñíguez should Paul Pogba leave the club.
Pogba was heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid throughout the summer transfer window, with Zinedine Zidane desperate to take him to the Bernabeu.
A move never happened, but Real Madrid have not given up, and Mundo Deportivo claim they will try and do a deal in January.
Should it happen, Manchester United would have a huge hole to fill in their team and the money with which to do so, and at the top of their list would be Saúl.
Mundo claim that the Spanish midfielder has always been well-liked at Old Trafford and should Pogba leave, he is ‘one of the favourites’ to replace him.
Atlético would not want to lose him, but if the offer from Manchester United was ‘astronomical’ and the midfielder fancied a change, they would not stand in their way.
Which all sounds great, except this is not the first time the Spaniard has been linked with a move to Manchester.
Before each window, there’s an ‘Atlético Midfielder Fortnight’ where Saúl, Koke and Thomas are all linked with Premier League clubs, and it seems the 25-year-old is the first on the checklist this time around.
These reports never contain anything concrete and, as such, can, most of the time, be dismissed for what they are at this point; pure speculation.