Sheffield United are interested in signing Manchester United forward Jesse Lingard on loan in the January transfer window.
Lingard, who turned 28 earlier this week, has not played in almost three months and his only appearances this season have come in the Carabao Cup.
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder is understood to have spoken with United counterpart Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at length after Thursday night's 3-2 defeat to United at Bramall Lane, with the January transfer window due to open in two weeks.
The Blades are marooned at the bottom of the Premier League table and have had the worst start to a top-flight campaign in English football history, dating back to 1888-89.
The Sheffield United squad is laden with players who developed through the Football League pyramid and Lingard fits Wilder's profile, having cut his teeth with loan spells at Leicester, Birmingham, Brighton and Derby before he established himself in the United first-team squad in 2015.
Sheffield United spent £53million on four players in the summer window and could struggle to finance a deal for Lingard as United would expect them to pay the majority of his £100,000 weekly wage.
Lingard is approaching the last six months of his cotract but United are expected to trigger the one-year extension to tie him to the club until 2022, primarily to obtain a fee for Lingard next year.
Solskjaer has not started Lingard in the Premier League since New Year's Day and the academy graduate has been included in just two league matchday squads this term.
Lingard's camp entertained speculation linking him with a late summer move to Tottenham yet former United manager Jose Mourinho had no interest in signing him.
A starter for Gareth Southgate at the 2018 World Cup, Lingard has not played for England since the Nations League finals in June 2019 and he has netted a measly three league goals in the last two years.
