Man Utd pushing to sign Mathys Tel or Christopher Nkunku | OneFootball

Manchester United want to sign either Bayern Munich's Mathys Tel or Chelsea's Christopher Nkunku before the end of deadline day, reports claim.

The Red Devils' need for forward reinforcements was laid bare in Sunday's 2-0 defeat at home to Crystal Palace - the fifth defeat in six home outings for Ruben Amorim's side.

Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee, both woefully out of form, were left on the bench by Amorim, who instead deployed Kobbie Mainoo as a makeshift centre forward following an impressive showing against FCSB in the Europa League.

The experiment did not work for Amorim, who has allowed Marcus Rashford to join Aston Villa on loan after being unimpressed by his work ethic in training.

Tel and Nkunku have both been strongly linked to United this month - neither are getting much football under their belt at Bayern Munich and Chelsea - and ESPN report that the 13-time Premier League winners are trying to sign one of them before the 11pm deadline.

Negotiations with Bayern over Tel have been far from easy and there's currently a deadlock between the two parties due to the Bundesliga giants' insistence that an obligation to buy clause be inserted into a loan deal.

19-year-old Tel is understood to want the move - he has already rejected a £50m switch to Tottenham Hotspur this month - and talks will continue between the two clubs to see if a compromise can be reached.

If not, United may turn once more to Nkunku, who has been unable to dislodge Nicolas Jackson as Chelsea's starting striker. The Frenchman is also on the shopping list of Bayern, but United may look to offer him a route out of Stamford Bridge, potentially waving the way for Alejandro Garnacho to head in the opposite direction.

Reports suggest Chelsea's interest in Garnacho has not gone away, though the 20-year-old's future at United appears to be more secure after drawing public praise from Amorim for his response in being dropped from the squad for the Manchester derby in December.