Ralf Rangnick is close to making Boubacar Kamara his first signing as Manchester United boss.

The Marseille midfielder, 22, is a man in demand having been linked with various clubs around Europe in recent weeks.

El Nacional were first to report the Red Devils’ interest in Kamara last week and talk has intensified further since with FourFourTwo now suggesting an agreement is at an "advanced" stage.

Already an instrumental figure for his current club, Kamara has even taken the captain’s armband on several occasions this term.

He can operate in both a two and three-man midfield and is already approaching 150 senior appearances for Les Phoceens.

Following a summer where the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane all arrived at Old Trafford, United are expected to have a much less extravagant January.

With the fee reported to only be around the £10million mark, the Frenchman would represent a shrewd, low-cost addition and offer Rangnick more depth in the centre of the park.

The German boss, 63, has developed a fine reputation for aiding the development of young talents and will be relishing the opportunity to work with the France youth international.

Kamara is only available at such a low cost due to his five-year contract expiring this summer with Marseille understandably reluctant to lose him on a free.

Juventus and Barcelona have also been monitoring the situation, with the likes of Newcastle and Aston Villa previously linked too.

However, it seems the Red Devils have won the race for one of the continent’s emerging defensive midfield talents.

In other news

Juventus have made a striker their priority in January with Arsenal’s Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, Manchester United’s Edinson Cavani and Paris Saint-Germain’s Mauro Icardi all on their shortlist.

Italian outlet TuttoSport say the Old Lady are targeting elite forwards who are unsettled at their current clubs, which has brought Gunners skipper Aubameyang onto their radar in recent days.

Relegation-threatened Newcastle hope to convince United forward Anthony Martial to join them on loan in January.

The Magpies know they will have to pay excessive fees to attract big talent and The Sun suggest they will offer the Red Devils £6m to take Martial until the end of the campaign.

Brentford’s proposed capture of young Gremio full-back Vanderson looks to have collapsed after AS Monaco lodged a last-minute £11m bid.

Media in the player's homeland say that a deal with the Bees was virtually done before the French club swooped in to outbid them.