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Manchester United are resigned to losing David De Gea to Real Madrid but are looking for a swap deal to cushion the blow.

The Reds are set to launch a bid for the Spaniards’ striker Karim Benzema to boost Louis van Gaal’s lacklustre attack.

While De Gea was performing the goalkeeper heroics that identified him as a Real ‘must-have’ Van Gaal’s forwards were registering the club’s second worst goals for tally in the Premier League era with just 62.

Flop loan hitman Radamel Falcao has left the club and their is a question mark over Robin van Persie’s future.

It leaves just Wayne Rooney and rookie James Wilson and Van Gaal recognises the need for a goalscorer if United are to launch a serious Premier League title challenge next season and make a fist of their Champions League return.

With Rafa Benitez replacing sacked Carlo Ancelotti at the Bernabeu the Spaniards are set for a summer of comings and goings.

The Reds believe 27-year-old Benzema, who has scored 123 goals in 241 appearances for Real and was a target for Sir Alex Ferguson when he was at Lyon, can be prised from Madrid in the De Gea switch to fill the vacant number No.9 shirt.

MORE: Memphis Depay reveals United didn't want him to finish season with PSV Eindhoven.

De Gea’s agent, Jorge Mendes, is believed to have attended a meeting with Real directors late last month, although it is unclear whether De Gea's future was specifically discussed.

The keeper is understood to have told certain team-mates he might not return to United’s Carrington training complex in July and Falcao’s return to Monaco is said to have had ramifications on De Gea’s future, since the Colombian is also represented by Mendes.

Had De Gea decided to sign a new United contract, it was possible Falcao could have extended his loan by another year. Instead, United boss Van Gaal vetoed the option of retaining Falcao and De Gea is set to follow the striker out of United.

United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has tightened the club’s working relationship with Mendes, however the Portuguese agent criticised Van Gaal’s management of Falcao earlier this year and the Dutch coach branded Mendes’ comments ‘unhelpful’.

Mendes lobbed another barb when he eulogised Sir Alex Ferguson’s ‘genius’.

MORE:

Click through the gallery to see United's summer transfer targets in pictures.