ESPN FC: New man at Manchester United

Manchester United believe they have made significant advancements in their pursuit of Bayern Munich's Toni Kroos, sources close to Old Trafford have told ESPN.

After two months of negotiations, the United hierarchy is now confident the principles of an agreement are in place for the 24-year-old to become the first of potentially six high-profile signings.

'I could shut out United with a pub team' Roy Hodgson may not be completely confident of guiding England to World Cup glory but the national team manager has no doubts about his coaching ability, claiming he could keep Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie at bay with just about any side.

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Kroos is about to move into the final year of his contract at Bayern, with the two parties way apart on terms. That may mean the German Double winners could consider selling the player this summer rather than see him possibly leave for free 12 months later.

United also remain extremely hopeful of bringing in Southampton left-back Luke Shaw, despite talks having been slow.

Although Bayern will resist the transfer of Kroos, and there is every chance the saga could rumble on until after the World Cup, those two players are currently seen as the most likely to join out of an extensive list of high-profile targets.

Louis van Gaal, whose appointment as successor to David Moyes was confirmed on Monday, has a significant rebuilding job with several players moving on and Ryan Giggs, who will be his No. 2, also hanging up his boots. United plan to spend at least £150 million improving four key areas: central midfield, central defence, left-back and overall squad pace.

United won't retire Giggs shirt Manchester United will not retire their No.11 shirt following Ryan Giggs' decision to hang up his boots.

Giggs, who made a record 963 appearances for the club, is concentrating on his new role as Louis van Gaal's assistant manager and the club will reallocate his number.

Giggs' retirement and Rio Ferdinand's departure means the club have four key shirt numbers up for grabs next season: No.11, No.7, No.9 and No.5.

Van Gaal's interest in Borussia Dortmund centre-back Mats Hummels is widely known, and the club have themselves tracked their midfielder Marco Reus for some time. There remains a degree of difficulty in extracting either player from the Westfalenstadion with the club having lost several high-profile players, such as Robert Lewandowski and Mario Goetze, to Bayern.

Surprisingly, United may enjoy more success in bringing in one of Arturo Vidal from Juventus or Barcelona's Cesc Fabregas. While there is a belief that the Chilean midfielder can be secured relatively cheaply in relation to his standing, Barca may also be "open-minded" about offers for Fabregas.

Fabregas is not strictly for sale, but Barca will consider approaches. Sources have stated that both United and Arsenal have been made aware of the situation.

This article originally appeared on ESPN FC

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