Hull City Prepare Audacious £14m Bid For Manchester United Striker Danny Welbeck

Hull City are hoping to take advantage of the new Louis van Gaal era at Manchester United with an audacious £14m swoop for Danny Welbeck.

The England striker featured mainly from a wide berth last season when both Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie led the United line, moving into the middle when the Dutch international became injured.

But now that Van Gaal has implemented a new 3-4-1-2 system at United, with Rooney and van Persie expected to spearhead the attack, a deluge of players are fighting for positions behind the strike pair and Welbeck could find himself shunted either out wide or on the substitutes' bench.

Hull City boss Steve Bruce wants to capatilise on the uncertainty by tempting United with a £14m bid for the 23-year-old, reports the Daily Mail.

The Tigers are in the final throes of selling striker Shane Long to Southampton for a reported £12m and have money available should Welbeck feel he wants more first team football.

But luring Welbeck, a United fan who grew up just four miles from Old Trafford, could prove difficult for Bruce, who believes he cannot rely on Nikica Jelavic to supply Hull's goals this season.

Welbeck, a United youth graduate, made 36 appearances in total last season and scored 10 goals, rebounding after a dismal strike record the season before when he scored just twice in 40 games.

United open their Premier League campaign at home to Swansea in the Saturday lunchtime kick-off while Hull face newly promoted QPR.

In other United news, Spaniard Ander Herrera has told the club's official website he hopes to emulate club legends Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt in United's midfield.

"I always looked at other players at Real Zaragoza as that's where I played [as a youngster]. Gus Poyet was a role model for me, and then the national team players like Xavi and Iniesta but so were the United players like Scholes and Butt," the £29m signing told MUTV.

"They not only played well with the ball, they did great work off the ball too and worked hard to defend when they needed to. They were all big role models for me."