Manchester United have been alerted to Jerome Boateng's availability after Bayern Munich's president advised the defender to leave the Bavaria club.
Boateng did not feature in the decisive final two games of Bayern's Bundesliga season as manager Niko Kovac ended the campaign with a preferred centre-back partnership of Mats Hummels and Niklas Sule.
And now Uli Hoeness has suggested it would be wise for the 30-year-old to move on.
"I would recommend him (Boateng) as a friend to leave the club," Hoeness said. "He needs a new challenge, recently he has seemed out of place."
Boateng was on an eight-man shortlist of possible defensive signings put together by United last June but the club ended the summer without recruiting a centre-back, despite Jose Mourinho's reservations about the quality of the options available to him.
Senior club sources told the MEN on deadline day last August that Boateng was dismissed as a realistic option on account of his concerning injury record.
Boateng himself claimed it was his decision to snub United, telling Bild: "I did not want just to get away from Bayern but I was thrilled to try a new challenge. I feel well at Bayern, it’s one of the biggest clubs in the world.
"I called Jose Mourinho. I told him that his interest was an honour for me and thanked him for trying so hard for me. I explained to Jose that it’s difficult to leave Bayern and, if I do, everything has to be in place to top this club."
United are unlikely to revive their interest in Boateng this summer as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer targets younger players to kick-start the Reds' rebuild.
