Manchester United have been handed fresh hope in their pursuit of a new central defender as football consultant Ian McGarry revealed the Red Devils have been offered the chance to sign Ajax defender Matthijs de Ligt.

The move has put the Red Devils on red alert and could make a fresh approach.

"Manchester United have certainly shown a great interest in [De Ligt] but are understandably cynical about the fact Mino Raiola is his agent and Raiola has caused them problems already with Paul Pogba throughout his time at Old Trafford," he said on The Transfer Window podcast.

"I was told last weekend that Raiola had again come back to Ed Woodward to offer De Ligt and that the problems in terms of De Ligt actually securing a move out of Ajax is not the fee that Ajax were asking, which is similar to the €75m [£67m] they secured from Frenkie de Jong at Barcelona, but of course Mino's commission - which is coming in at around €10.5m [£9m] net.

"Usually a commission on any transfer deal for an agent is between six and 7.5 per cent. Ten per cent usually is the maximum a club will pay, but with Raiola, he always asks for more as he did with Pogba.

"I think that's been the problem, because so far Barcelona, Juventus and Manchester United have shown willingness to at least pay the fee to Ajax, but not the commission to Raiola."