Manchester United reportedly make Mats Hummels bid

The story dominating the Manchester United gossip columns today is that the Reds could finally patch up their defence with a top centre-back by signing Mats Hummels from Bundesliga relegation strugglers (!) Borussia Dortmund in January. The latest notable gossip peddler to make the claim is Italian journalist Gianluigi Longari, who writes for the notoriously unreliable Tuttomercatoweb, but who is very well-known in the world of calcio.

He tantalisingly tweeted that United have made an offer for the German World Cup winner:

#mufc offerta per #hummels #BVB

— Gianluigi Longari (@Glongari) January 4, 2015

Admittedly, the question of how an Italian journalist would have the scoop on a German defender moving from a German team to an English one is a good one, and the answer is most likely "he doesn't." Nevertheless, with Ed Woodward having dropped hints for a while of a big January signing, and with United's defensive problems pretty obvious, it wouldn't be too big a surprise if there was fire somewhere deep beneath the smoke.