Manchester United Transfer News: Latest on Kevin Strootman Amid £100m Raid Talk

If Manchester United's summer is to be remembered for their inability to land Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal, the Red Devils' winter could be defined by a similar situation with Kevin Strootman of Roma.

Former United defender Phil Neville believes the club needs to spend £100 million across the next two transfer windows "before they can even think about winning the title," per BBC Sport. Neville believes "holding midfield or centre midfield needs addressing," underlining Strootman's prominence as a January candidate for Louis van Gaal. 

David McDonnell of the Mirror suggests Strootman is looking to secure an Old Trafford move in January, but his club is refusing to entertain the idea of letting him leave. 

As reported by Sky Italia journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, Roma president James Pallota recently dropped some bullish tweets when discussing Strootman's future:

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There has been non stop reporting in UK newspapers about Kevin Strootman and Manchester United. Kevin Strootman is not for sale and has never ever been discussed in that vein at Roma. They are wasting paper. We consider Kevin an integral highly valued partner in our long term plans.

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Nadia Carminati of Sky Sports also posted a comment from Mauro Baldissoni, the Serie A side's sporting director, in which he told Sky Italia, "We are proud that Kevin is part of our squad and he is not for sale."

United have deployed three new midfield signings in the last two matches, with Angel Di Maria, Ander Herrera and Daley Blind coming into the struggling squad. All three have impressed in their own right, but none offer the complete central midfield game of Strootman.

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Di Maria is naturally a winger and opts to bomb forward whenever possible, leaving defensive duties to his team-mates. Herrera lacks physicality, despite his willingness to rough the opposition up, and needs powerful support alongside him to work at his best.

Blind is useful at shielding the back line but doesn't offer the box-to-box presence of Strootman, whose attributes are well suited to the Premier League. Roma's key man possesses a decent range of passing, can skip beyond opposition with long strides and is used to weighing in on the offensive front. The 24-year-old is also tall and naturally tracks back to aid his defence.

Like United's pursuit of Vidal, injury could determine whether a bid for Strootman is launched. Knee surgery recently kept Strootman out of the World Cup, a competition which would have seen him play under Van Gaal's tutelage.

He became a pivotal member of the Netherlands squad under United's current boss, who said that "we have to wait and see how he comes back" before a bid can be considered, per Sky Sports.

Danny Murphy made a point of stressing United also need defensive reinforcements, per BBC Sport, saying the back four "lacked leadership, experience and quality" during the 5-3 defeat to Leicester. Football writer Jonathan Johnson tweeted reports that Van Gaal could look across the Channel for new talent:

Tyler Blackett, Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones have been unable to stop United looking completely exposed at the back this season.

Only Smalling is currently confirmed to be fit for Saturday's visit of West Ham after Evans exited the game with Leicester through injury and Blackett was sent off, per United's official website. Jones remains key but is also sidelined with a hamstring problem, noted by the Daily Mail's Chris Wheeler. Marcos Rojo could slot in as a centre-back, but he lacked authority during his performance on the left against the Foxes.

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Anthony Chapman of the Daily Express previously reported that United will line up a bid for Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels in January. Much like Strootman, the club's willingness to keep him could see this attempt rendered futile, as it appeared to be during the summer. Van Gaal will either have to stump up significant cash or look elsewhere, such is the difficulty of landing highly regarded players.

United's season may be over by the time January arrives, as right now the team has just five points from as many games. Strootman and a couple of world-class centre-backs are certainly needed just as they were at the beginning of the summer. Van Gaal's ability to finally address these chasms within the United squad is likely to define his tenure as boss.