COMMENT: The Premier League title race appears to be over, but as unlikely as it may be for Manchester City to drop points, there's still a chance, albeit minute, that the Premier League's unpredictability will fall upon City at some point this term thus giving the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool a fighting chance at the league title - after all we've still got a long way to go before the season ends.

In light of that small chance Manchester United have already begun to look at potential acquisitions for when the January transfer window opens.

The likes of Joao Mario and Mesut Ozil have popped up as possible signings, but one name that stands out as a result of his status in world football as well as Jose Mourinho's admission of his interest in him is Real Madrid forward, Gareth Bale.

The Welsh winger has emerged as a target for United, and reports suggest that the Red Devils have already made their interest known to Real Madrid in a bid open talks with Bale.

It goes without saying that Bale's injury proneness is a huge concern considering how physically demanding the Premier League is as opposed to it's equally competitive but slower-paced counterpart, La Liga – it's worth noting that the 28-year-old has suffered 19 muscle injuries since his move to Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

He's already been restricted to just 5 league games for Los Blancos after suffering three injuries this term.

His injury proneness, though, isn't the biggest issue surrounding Bale's potential move to Manchester.

The Welshman has an electrifying presence on the pitch as his style of play mainly revolves around taking opponents on and going for goal.

Looking at what he's capable of it's easy to envisage him taking United to the next level, but the Red Devils already have multiple players capable of doing just that within their ranks.

The likes of Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford have proven their worth to Jose Mourinho on multiple occasions this term.

Their influence on games has grown tremendously since the start of the season, and under different circumstances they would have been revered as much as Manchester City's Sane and Gabriel Jesus are at the moment.

The young duo has become accustomed to Mourinho's tactical philosophy as evidenced by the work they do for the team in all areas of the pitch and considering both players are yet to reach their full potential, they need to play regularly in a bid to garner some more experience and grow both physically and mentally, hence the addition of Gareth Bale at this stage would do nothing but hamper the growth of Martial and Rashford.

Unlike the dynamic duo, Bale's time at real Madrid has seen him focus solely on contributing to the attack, thus he may have some trouble getting accustomed to Jose Mourinho's often defensive-minded tactics.

Given Bale arrived at Madrid for £85m, there's no doubt that Los Blancos will be keen on recouping most of what they paid for him, but payinga huge sum of money for a 28-year-old injury prone player that could potentially limit the progress of the club's brightest young talents would be an unwise decision by Manchester United.

Jose Mourinho's focus during the January transfer window should be on injecting some much-needed creativity and power into the middle of the park, in a bid to curb their ineffectiveness against teams that play fast-paced football as Bale's acquisition could do more harm than good.