Manchester United Transfer News: Henrikh Mkhitaryan Boost, Latest Rumours

Borussia Dortmund are reportedly willing to sell Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Manchester United, but only if the Red Devils offer "at least €40 million (£30.9 million)."

According to translator David Amoyal on GianlucaDiMarzio.com, the German club have identified Wolfsburg's Andre Schurrle as "the ideal replacement" should Mkhitaryan depart, but they still expect leading suitors United to up their bid for the Armenian considerably from their initial €25 million (£19.3 million) offer.

Mkhitaryan only has a year remaining on his current contract at Dortmund, and the club's CEO, Hans-Joachim Watzke, previously insisted he would not be allowed to leave this summer despite passing up the offer to sign a new deal, per Bild (via ESPN.co.uk's Stephan Uersfeld): 

"

We've been negotiating a new deal with Henrikh Mkhitaryan for four months. We now know he won't sign an extension. There was never a promise that he can leave us prematurely. 

We have intensely discussed the question of an early transfer in all club bodies and came to the conclusion that Mkhitaryan will stay in Dortmund next season.

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However, the latest reports indicate BVB may be prepared to negotiate, but United could be unwilling to spend more than £30 million on a player they could get on a free transfer next summer.

It is clear Mkhitaryan, 27, wants to move to United, with his agent, Mino Raiola, recently admitting as much, per the Times' Paul Hirst:

And he would be a brilliant addition to the side, as he would add creativity that was sorely lacking from United last season as they registered just 49 Premier League goals in 38 matches under manager Louis van Gaal.

As a right-winger—he can also play through the middle and on the left—Mkhitaryan could provide pace on the counter-attack in what is likely to be a different setup next term under new manager Jose Mourinho, per Squawka's Dave O'Brien:

Though the reported fee wanted by Dortmund is high considering the contract situation, Mkhitaryan proved last season he is more than worth the money, and United will surely up their bid in order to snap him up if BVB are now willing to let him go.

Meanwhile, Mourinho's widely-expected summer "cull" of the United squad could be more of "a considered pruning" if history is anything to go by, according to Stuart Mathieson in the Manchester Evening News.

Mathieson indicated that, at the start of both of his spells at Chelsea, the Portuguese manager kept on much of the squad he had inherited, whether it was from Claudio Ranieri in 2004 or Rafa Benitez in 2013.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

It is thus expected that David De Gea, Chris Smalling, Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin will be retained to be the spine of the United side.

Juan Mata has long been the player considered most at risk by Mourinho's arrival because he was let go by the same manager at Chelsea, but it has already been reported that he will be given the chance to prove himself at Old Trafford, per David McDonnell of the Daily Mirror.

It seems that Mourinho may not be as cut-throat as widely expected, and there could be a familiar feel to the United squad at the start of next season.