Stan Collymore has urged Manchester United to do everything in their power to sign Real Madrid star Gareth Bale this summer.
This comes after the Manchester Evening News reported on Sunday that Red Devils manager Jose Mourinho was weighing up a possible move for the Welshman.
The newspaper claimed Bale, 27, would cost United a transfer fee of more than £100million, and that Madrid have turned away enquiries for the player thus far.
Collymore has advised Mourinho to use Madrid target David De Gea, 26, as a makeweight to secure Bale’s services this summer.
He wrote in his Mirror column: “If I was Jose Mourinho, I’d be going all out to land Bale this summer.
“And I’d be using the fact David De Gea is a live target for Real to the best of my advantage.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Bale would be any sort of makeweight — he’s too big a deal himself for that.
“But Real’s hopes of landing the Spain goalkeeper might just give Mourinho some wiggle room to make a counter bid and, with Isco’s form, Los Blancos might just consider it.”
The flying Welshman joined the Spanish giants from Tottenham in September 2015 for £85million and he has since played 150 league and cup games for the club.
During that time he has scored 67 goals and provided 51 assists for the club, but in the 2016/17 campaign, due to injuries he became a bit-part player.
He only made 27 appearances in all competitions last term, and scored just nine goals, but Real still flourished without him and won La Liga and the Champions League.
Meanwhile, United finished sixth in this season’s Premier League, but they did manage to win the League Cup and the Europa League.
However, despite their successes in the cup competitions they are looking to strengthen all aspects of their squad this summer and Collymore believes Bale could be the man to take them to the next level.