Manchester United can nick Robin van Persie from under Manchester City's noses due to the champions' overloaded striker stocks. The Telegraph says City are ready to bid £20 million for the want-away Arsenal striker. But United are now also keen.

City want to find buyers for some of their existing strikers, including Emmanuel Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz, before finalising a deal for Van Persie.

As with Samir Nasri last summer, United's problem would be to match both the wages and transfer fee that City can offer. They have also not paid a transfer fee for a player over the age of 28 since Dimitar Berbatov four years ago.