Antonio Rudiger transfer news: Chelsea and Manchester United go head to head for Roma defender
MANCHESTER United will battle it out with Chelsea for Roma defender Antonio Rudiger.
The German defender has been in outstanding for the Italians this season and his stand out performances have alerted Europe's big boys.
Blues boss Antonio Conte is willing to face off with United boss Jose Mourinho for the German international as both clubs look to take advantage of Roma's difficult financial position.
Keep up-to-date with all the latest transfer news and gossip ahead of the January window with SunSport's daily LIVE blog.
Conte and Mourinho have been given the green light to spend big in January with the Blues boss reportedly keen to pull off a sensational move for Real Madrid star James Rodriguez.
Meanwhile Jose Mourinho is close to landing Benfica defender Victor Lindelof with officials from the Portuguese outfit arriving in the North west to finalise the deal.
The Roma hierarchy would prefer to cash in on Greek International defender Kostas Manolas in order to comply with UEFA Financial Fair Play.
That is something Roma failed to do last year when they were slapped with a £4.3million fine for 'non-compliance of FFP break-even regulations'
Manolas joined Roma from Olympiakos in 2014 for around £13m and reported snubbed Premier League interest to move to Italy.
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The Italians are looking for a tidy profit on their investment quoting clubs north of £20m for the 25-year-old defender who recently rejected a new deal to extend his stay at the Stadio Olimpico.
SunSport has been told there are no takers for Manolas, so the club could be forced to do business for Rudiger in January, much to the annoyance of coach Luciano Spalletti.
The defender suffered a major blow when he sustained a serious knee injury that ruled him out of Euro 2016 and has made 10 appearances since getting back to full fitness in October.