Insider Laurie Whitwell has revealed Manchester United interest in raiding Leeds for one of their most important players, and the chances a deal gets done.

United are 16th in the Premier League, while the Whites, one of their main rivals are seventh. Leeds have spent two decades largely nowhere near the Red Devils, until this season.

United are massively underachieving, and are looking to the transfer window to make improvements.

Whitwell reports for The Athletic that one of those looks to be in the striker position, with the market being explored for a new No.9.

That’s where Leeds come in, with their four-goal striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin said to be one name under consideration.

The forward is among the best-rated players at Elland Road this season, averaging over a 7.0 every game per FotMob.

United are said to be establishing whether a move for the Englishman would be possible when the window opens, in what would be a big statement.

Leeds unlikely to sanction Dominic Calvert-Lewin exit

However, it’s said the chances of a transfer are thought to be ‘remote’ given the relationship between the two clubs.

Further to that, the Whites are believed to want to tie Calvert-Lewin down to a new contract.

As a result, it appears United will have to look at one of the other targets on their list if they want to land a new striker in January.

Whether Benjamin Sesko will be fit by that point is unclear, with Red Devils boss Michael Carrick confirming he’ll be out for a while, but not exactly how long.

He told reporters: “Yeah, unfortunately Ben looks like he’s going to be out for a period of time. We’re still not clear of exactly how long, but it’s going to be for a longer period of time.

“It was the process, as I said to you before, we had to go through the process, a bit of a healing process for the injury to see how it would react and what direction to go with that. Even now we’re still working through it.

“But it’s unfortunately, obviously first and foremost, for Ben, for the kind of period that he’s had, and tried to get through it and going through this again, and for us to not have him available is obviously a blow, but we’ll try and get back, get him back as quick as we can.”