Mkhitaryan to Manchester United: Red Devils submit improved £28m bid to bring midfielder to Old Trafford

Manchester United have submitted an improved £28m ($41m) offer in the hope of completing the signing of Borussia Dortmund midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the coming days after their initial approach was rebuffed by the Bundesliga club. The Germans are reluctant to let the Armenian leave the club despite his agent publicly announcing his client's intention to depart the Signal Iduna Park outfit this summer.

Mino Raiola has confirmed that Mkhitaryan wants a move to Old Trafford this summer, but they are yet to convince the Dortmund hierarchy to accept United's bid for the player. The Armenia international has just one-year left on his contract, but the club are willing to lose him on a free transfer next summer rather than see him join the exodus, which has seen Mats Hummels and Ilkay Gundogan secure moves to Bayern Munich and Manchester City respectively.

The player's agent is adamant they will fight until the end to secure a move after admitting that the opportunity to move to a club of United's stature does not come often. Moreover, Raiola's comments regarding the 20-time English champions being Mkhitaryan's dream club puts an end to Arsenal's pursuit of the midfielder, despite initial reports putting them in the front of the queue.

"Such an offer to join Manchester United might only come once in a lifetime for a player and nobody can guarantee us that the door will still be open for Micki next season. Manchester are Micki's dream club, he wants to join them by any means," Raiola told the Bild.

Asked if United will have to make a higher bid than the reported £18.4m, Raiola said: "That's not my task. My task is to represent my player's interests. It's known what Micki wants."

The Red Devils, however, are unwilling to accept Dortmund's wishes and are pushing through with the move and according to the Mirror, they have submitted an improved bid of around £28m after their initial offer of £19m was rejected by the club. Jose Mourinho is reportedly keen to complete the signing before the start of pre-season in July.