Manchester United have stepped up a gear in the race to sign Borussia Dortmund ace Mats Hummels in the upcoming January transfer window, Daily Star reports.
The German World Cup winner is concerned over his club's extremely poor start to the season, as Dortmund sit bottom of the Bundesliga after their eight league loss of the current campaign at the weekend.
This could open the door for Hummels to finally leave the club after being heavily linked with a move to Old Trafford all summer.
The Red Devils were extremely keen on signing a world class centre-back, but failed despite spending over £150million during the transfer window.
Chief executive Ed Woodward has claimed that United will not be purchasing stop-gap options to fix their ailing defence, with several centre-backs sidelined with injury.
This forced manager Louis van Gaal to field several youngsters instead of buying Aston Villa's Ron Vlaar, but the club hierarchy will be willing to spend £30million on a top defender like Hummels.