Manchester United Transfer News: Latest Rumours on Dries Mertens, Stefan de Vrij

Manchester United target Dries Mertens has reportedly stalled on penning a new deal with Napoli as he is eager to hear what the Red Devils, and fellow suitors Manchester City, have to offer. 

According to TalkSport, Napoli have been in prolonged negotiations with the Belgian striker over a new contract, but interest from Manchester has prevented him from signing, and Mertens is interested in a potential move. 

Mertens' current deal with the Partenopei only runs to 2018, so Napoli may be forced to cash in on their star man if he does not commit to a longer deal, or else they risk losing him for free at the end of next season.

The 29-year-old's stock has risen enormously this season, and with good reason.

He has scored 18 Serie A goals in 24 appearances and shown blistering form recently across all competitions, per Squawka:

United need a new front-line striker. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has done much of the goalscoring heavy lifting as the Red Devils' No. 9 this season, but the Swede is now 35 and can't go on forever.

Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann has long been mooted as United's key summer target, but the Old Trafford outfit's hopes of signing the Frenchman have faded recently, per The Independent's Miguel Delaney.

Mertens could be an excellent, and potentially much cheaper, alternative target to Griezmann, and he is seemingly interested in a potential move to United.

Meanwhile, the Manchester giants look to have missed out on former target Stefan de Vrij.

According to Corriere dello Sport (via Sky Sports), Inter Milan have a verbal agreement in place to sign the 25-year-old Lazio centre-back.

Marco Rosi/Getty Images

It was reported at the end of last month that Lazio were prepared to sell De Vrij for £30 million this summer, with United manager Jose Mourinho keen to sign him and the Dutchman eager to make the move to Old Trafford, per the Express' Neil Fissler.

It will be a blow if he has indeed agreed to join Inter as United need centre-back reinforcements and De Vrij is a very talented young defender.

He has played 19 Serie A games for Lazio so far in 2016-17, proving himself to be a confident and tough-tackling centre-back.

United, though, will likely have to look elsewhere in the summer as it seems De Vrij is headed for the San Siro.