Man Utd step up bid for £86m target with attacker to be offered in swap transfer

ERIK TEN HAG will let striker Anthony Martial leave the club in order to fund a move for Atalanta target Rasmus Hojlund.

According to Football 365, Ten Hag is “willing” to offer the French forward to Atalanta in a swap deal for the highly rated Danish 20-year-old.

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The news comes after Atalanta bosses met last week to discuss the sale of Hojlund and decided they would demand a record fee for the striker.

Their previous record sale was Cristian Romero to Tottenham in a £42.5million deal – and they will demand £86m for the Danish international.

The news came as a blow for United, who were hoping to land the striker as a cheaper alternative to Tottenham’s Harry Kane for around £50m.

A new striker remains the top priority for Erik Ten Hag with the Manchester club also looking to sign a new central-midfielder and goalkeeper.

The need for a number of players in key positions has seen United try to come up with creative solutions when signing players and offering Martial is an example of that.

United are also willing to offer winger Amad Diallo on loan to Atalanta as part of any deal for Hojlund.

United signed Diallo, 20, for £19m from Atalanta in 2020 and he is coming off the back of a superb loan spell at Sunderland.

The Ivory Coast international scored 14 and assisted four times in his 42 appearances for the Black Cats.

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Hojlund is fresh off the back of a breakout season at Atalanta that saw him score 11 and assist six times in his debut season.

He scored a hat-trick on his Denmark debut against Finland in March before adding a brace in his second game against Kazakhstan.

Hojlund shares the same agent as Erik Ten Hag and there were reports that the two had shared a video call about the prospect of the striker joining United.

While Hojlund denied claims of a call taking place while on international duty, he was not coy on his interest in joining United.

He told Danish outlet Berlingske via Football 365: “There has been no video call,

“I can’t say anything about that.

“It’s a huge club, so I must have done something right if it says they want me.

“My goal is to reach the top shelf, and you can say that Manchester United is. So it will be huge.”