West Ham midfielder Declan Rice was reportedly watched by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's personal scout ahead of a potential transfer to Manchester United.
The Daily Mail claim United are plotting a summer move for Rice, rather than a swoop in the January window.
Solskjaer’s scout Simon Wells is reported to have watched Rice during West Ham’s 1-0 defeat by Sheffield United last Friday.
Rice was the centre of attention during that match after a VAR intervention ruled out a late West Ham equaliser due to a handball by Rice in the build-up.
The report says Wells is Solskjaer's most trusted scout and his sole task is to identify players that are capable of strengthening United's first team.
Rice is contracted to West Ham until 2024 but the report says the Hammers are preparing for movement from United in the coming months.
The MEN understands Rice is on United's radar but the club always knew he would be difficult to lure away during the January window.
Meanwhile, United are surprisingly being linked with a move for Kalidou Koulibaly.
United’s squad is overloaded with central defenders, one of whom they spent £75million on in the summer.
Victor Lindelof, Axel Tuanzebe, Eric Bailly, Marcos Rojo, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are also on United’s books.
Italian journalist Fabio Santini said a deal worth £60million has been agreed and that the transfer will take place when the summer window opens.
It’s all a little far-fetched at this stage so it would be wise to take Santini’s comments with a pinch of salt.
