Manchester United join chase for Shakhtar's Willian

Sir Alex Ferguson is reportedly hot on the heels of in-form Shakhtar Donetsk playmaker Willian and is ready to enter the race to sign the Brazilian after an extensive scouting assessment of the 24 year old.

Both Chelsea and Tottenham have been strongly linked with interest in the former Corinthians in recent months, the Blues interest significantly increasing following Willian’s two goal salvo at Stamford Bridge earlier this season, and now Man United are looking to beat off other prospective suitors by making a significant offer in January.

Ferguson is keen on adding extra creativity to a midfield that has been a tad brittle this term and certainly lacking a goal threat to sufficiently support an attack that seemingly can’t stop scoring.

The Man United boss attempted to lure fellow Brazilian Lucas Moura to Old Trafford over the summer but lost the race for the Sao Paulo man to PSG and Ferguson is keen to win the race to bring in Willian, who will surely be keen on a move to the Premier League having seemingly achieved as much as he can in Ukraine.

Willian is into his sixth season at Donbass Arena side and has helped his side to all manner of domestic successes and whilst qualification to the last 16 of the Champions League is a big step forward for Mircea Lucescu’s side the temptation of a move to Man United will be hard to resist.

With Paul Scholes getting on in years and Michael Carrick plying a less attacking role there may well be a real need to bring in a goal-scoring flair player who can better link midfield and attack. The need for such a player has also seen Man United reportedly target Inter Milan playmaker Wesley Sneijder but Ferguson is now keen to bring in Willian, a player four years younger than the Dutch international and unlike the former Real Madrid and Ajax man, a player who is in the best form of his career.

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Source: CaughtOffside