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While Manchester United have been needing centre-back reinforcements for what feels like years, they did address it in the summer with the purchase of Harry Maguire from Leicester.

Manchester City, on the other hand, thought they were covered with Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi, choosing to reinforce their team elsewhere and occasionally rely on Fernandinho in the role.

Unfortunately, injury struck the first two on that list, meaning the Brazilian has been called upon more often than not, which hasn’t helped their campaign in the league.

That’s why their interest, alongside United’s, in Hellas Verona’s Marash Kumbulla is no surprise.

We’ve already covered the fact they’ve been following him for months, but it now appears the Manchester pair have taken a step forward and actually ‘informed themselves’ about the player’s situation, according to Corriere dello Sport.

As things stand, the player is reportedly valued at €30m by his club, which is affordable for both Pep Guardiola and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, although there remains the possibility of that price rising if the youngster continues to impress as much as he has done so far.

If they did come forward to try and sign the 20-year-old, they would likely face competition from Everton, Chelsea and a handful of top Bundesliga and Serie A sides like Bayern Munich, Inter or even Borussia Dortmund.