Manchester United transfer news: Louis van Gaal hoping Manchester City can help his team in their pursuit of Kevin Strootman

Manchester United are reportedly hoping for a favour from arch rivals Manchester City in their pursuit on AS Roma midfielder Kevin Strootman.

According to the Mirror, the Red Devils are hoping that City can knock the Serie A club out of the Champions League, when they face each other in a winner takes all clash at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday night.

Roma's American owner James Pallotta, who is against the sale of his star midfielder, has reportedly slapped a £60m fee over the head of Strootman, and the Old Trafford club are hoping that an exit in the group stages of the Champions League will reduce that fee.

Louis van Gaal is very keen to sign the Dutchman and does not want to wait till the summer to sign him and the report claims that the United hierarchy are willing to spend as much as £30m to land the midfielder during the January transfer window.

The former Bayern Munich manager had made it clear in the summer that he is interested in signing the midfielder, who is currently just making his way back into the first-team following a severe knee injury sustained last season.

The 24-year-old midfielder has just made two substitute appearances this season for Roma, but the United manager, who has been keeping tabs on his recovery process, has been guaranteed that Strootman will be back in top physical shape ahead of the upcoming transfer window.

Dutch journalist Hugo Borst, who was a close friend of Van Gaal, has revealed that the United boss and the Roma midfielder have already agreed a deal in principle for him to join the Manchester based club during the summer.