MAN UNITED TRANSFER WINDOW: Reus and Herrera on radar in Moyes' big spree

 

As Premier League chiefs prepare to fling open the January transfer window, Sportsmail takes a look at each top-flight club and assesses the business they are each likely to do in the post-Christmas sales.

After missing out on a number of summer targets, David Moyes will surely be looking to strengthen his squad in January. The new United boss will be looking for some attacking threat from midfield as summer signing Marouane Fellaini continues to flop.

 

What do they need?
United’s scouts around the globe have been ordered to look for ‘world-class players in every position’, such is the level of concern over the current squad.
Midfield is screaming out for new blood and has been for too long now, but United know they are simply not good enough all over the pitch.

Sir Alex Ferguson knew it too when he waltzed off into retirement, even though he will never admit it.How much business will get done in January still remains to be seen, however.
VIDEO Scroll down to watch David Moyes discuss Aston Villa 0-3 Manchester United

New blood: David Moyes has to get his signings right in January to help improve Manchester United's poor form

Speculative: Andres Iniesta (right) is unlikely to leave Barcelona despite United's interest

How much is in the chest?
Quite a lot, it would seem, if United really were serious in their last-ditch attempt to snatch Gareth Bale away from Real Madrid with a bid close to £100million in the summer.
 
They didn’t flinch in paying £27.5m for Marouane Fellaini either, even though some fans wish they hadn’t.
Their refusal to meet the £31m release clause in Ander Herrera’s contract at Athletic Bilbao shows that they will not throw money around for the sake of it, though.

Good enough? Marouane Fellaini has struggled to make an impact since joining United in the summer

Who do they like the look of?
United were deadly serious in their attempt to bring Cristiano Ronaldo back to Old Trafford before the Portugal star signed a whopping new contract at Real Madrid, and that is an indication of the type of headline signing they would love to lift the whole club.
Bale was one that got away but David Moyes is still keen on Andres Iniesta and his Barcelona team-mates Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song, as well as Real Madrid’s Luka Modric.

Moyes is also a big admirer of Borussia Dortmund striker Marco Reus with a question mark hanging over the Old Trafford futures of Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez, for different reasons.
Herrera remains on the radar despite United’s reticence in the summer and the fact he has since lost form at Bilbao, as do £30m-rated Roma star Kevin Strootman and Dortmund’s Ilkay Gundogan.
An old Ferguson target, Wesley Sneijder, is another option but age counts against the 29-year-old Galatasaray star now.

Wanted: Borussia Dortmund's Marco Reus (left) could be a January target for United

Going forward: Wesley Sneijder (left) and Cesc Fabregas would add some attacking flair to United's midfield

Montpellier’s Remy Cabella would be available in January and other midfield possibilities include Everton Ribeiro (Cruzeiro), Koke (Atletico Madrid) and Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle) and William Carvalho (Sporting Lisbon) although the list is growing all the time.
Left-back is a concern with Patrice Evra approaching his 33rd birthday and doubts about whether Alex Buttner and Fabio are good enough to succeed him.
United’s scouts have been looking at Alex Sandro at Porto and St Etienne’s Faouzi Ghoulam.
There is a similar situation at centre-back with Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic coming to the end of their careers and concerns over Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling or Phil Jones as a first-choice partnership.
Cristian Zapata, of AC Milan, is under consideration but there are bound to be others.

Failed: United made a bid for Ander Herrera in the summer but it was rejected by Athletic Bilbao

Who’s heading for the exit?
If United could find a taker then Anderson would be first out of the door. Ashley Young has also fallen out of favour under Moyes, with Adnan Januzaj and Wilfried Zaha emerging as fresher options in the wide areas.

Worryingly for many United fans, a question mark continues to hang over Van Persie. The Dutchman is known to be upset that Ferguson retired just a year signing him and has not really taken to Moyes.

Rooney is back in favour as the main man and that just happens to have coincided with a return of Van Persie’s old injury problems. Bookmakers have cut the odds to him leaving in January to 2/1.

Shinji Kagawa has yet to convince many that he is a United player and Hernandez has been mentioned as a makeweight in other deals before.
With age catching up with Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra, a major upheaval is on the cards at Old Trafford.