United Launch £63m Bid For Franck Ribery??

Manchester United have made an offer of about €70m (£62.5m) for the Bayern Munich midfielder Franck Ribéry as they close in on a deal that would shatter the world transfer record.

Sources in Munich confirmed the bid has been received for the France international, who has made his desire to leave Germany known in the past few weeks.

United scouts have repeatedly watched the 26-year-old in recent Bundesliga matches and sounded out his friends and entourage in Munich. United's remarkable offer, which comfortably eclipses the record £44m paid by Real Madrid for Zinedine Zidane in 2001, is contingent on the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Madrid this summer but the approach to Bayern has been firm enough to suggest that the Portuguese's departure is a near certainty.

Although Bayern are understood to have turned down United's offer, it is considered the first serious move in a negotiation that will eventually bring the winger to Old Trafford.
- Raphael Honigstein, The Guardian -