Both Manchester United and Chelsea have reportedly contacted Bayern Munich over the possibility of signing Thiago Alcantara.
The 27-year-old Spanish midfielder looks set to leave the German champions this summer.
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A return to Barcelona has been mooted as a possible destination for the star.
But ESPN claim that the strongest interest so far has come from the two Premier League giants.
Thiago swapped the Nou Camp for Bavaria in 2013 and has gone on to win the Bundesliga five times in addition to two DFB Pokal triumphs.
However, Bayern have an overload of midfielders on their books and are set to sanction the sale of one or two before the transfer window closes.
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Their sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic has denied that Thiago will be one of the casualties and spoke of his desire to hold on to the ace.
But that has not put off either United or Chelsea in their pursuit.
Thiago is believed to be valued at £62m by the Germans as both the Red Devils and the Blues look to kick-start their summer spending.
Both clubs are desperate to bolster their squads in an attempt to try and overthrow last year’s runaway champions Manchester City.
Chelsea have only made one high-profile addition with midfielder Jorginho following Maurizio Sarri from Napoli to Stamford Bridge.
Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho is suffering a frustrating summer on the transfer front.
The Portuguese coach has only managed to bring in 19-year-old defender Diogo Dalot from Porto and Brazil international midfielder Fred from Shakhtar Donetsk.
Time is running out for the two sides to bring in more reinforcements as they only have until August 9 to conclude their business after Prem clubs agreed to shorten their transfer window.
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