Manchester United face a battle in their pursuit of Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

United face a forceful barrier in their bid to prise Neuer from Schalke... the Germany goalkeeper's girlfriend.

Sir Alex Ferguson is keen on the 24-year-old after revealing that Denmark No 1 Anders Lindegaard is unlikely to be the only arrival if Edwin van der Sar retires as expected at the end of the season.

But Neuer also has huge admirers at Bayern Munich and conspiracy theorists in Gelsenkirchen fear he could be drawn to the Bundesliga champions because his girlfriend Kathy is from the Bavarian capital.

Neuer showed his quality by helping Schalke to a 2-0 win against Bayern on Saturday but, as another supposed clue to his future, he then refused to join a team-mate in singing the lyrics of a song by punk band Die Toten Hosen: "many things can happen, many things can occur, I just know one thing for sure, I'd never join FC Bayern Munich."