Manchester United are reportedly ready to pay €4.5 million per year in wages to lure Iranian goal-machine Mehdi Taremi away from Porto in the upcoming January transfer window.

According to Inter Live, Manchester United are set to make contact with FC Porto over a January raid for experienced striker Mehdi Taremi as they look to blow Inter Milan out of the race with an extremely lucrative €30 million package to bring the prolific front-man to Old Trafford.

The Red Devils have endured an extremely difficult campaign, having already lost nine of their opening 17 games across all competitions. They are now staring down the barrel of an early exit from the Champions League following their midweek loss to Copenhagen.

With his side struggling to improve their fortunes by themselves, manager Erik ten Hag is reportedly drafting plans to further strengthen their squad and is beginning to gather pace ahead of the opening of the January window.

Among Ten Hag’s targets are believed to be a new centre-half and another striker, with the latter needed to lighten the load of responsibility on young forward Rasmus Hojlund, who has done brilliantly despite feeding on scraps in terms of service since arriving for a big transfer fee over the summer.

Although the Dane is yet to get off the mark in the Premier League, he still has five goals to his name in Europe and currently tops the scoring charts in the Champions League. However, doubts persist as to whether chief backup Anthony Martial is up to scratch any more, while Marcus Rashford is looking like a rabbit in the headlights without his purple goal-scoring patch.

As such, Manchester United are ready to open the chequebook in January and bring a more seasoned striker on board. Now, as per reports in Italy, Ten Hag is laying the groundwork to bring Porto striker Taremi to Old Trafford in the January window.

The 31-year-old has been the leading light for FC Porto in the last three seasons. He has scored 83 goals and provided 53 assists in 160 matches for Porto. His output has dipped somewhat this season, with just six goal contributions returned in 13 appearances.

The Iranian international’s age may also raise some eyebrows, but looking beyond that particular lens, it is clear that Taremi’s best years are not behind him.

His playing style is not reliant on pace. He excels at bringing others into the game by holding the ball up, bringing others into play with short passes, and then arriving in the box to finish chances, which would suit United’s pacy and direct attackers.

He is out of contract with FC Porto at season’s end. As such, and considering his age, a cut-price January transfer looks plausible.

Indeed, per the report, it would cost a mere €10 million to sign the 31-year-old in the winter window. Furthermore, the Red Devils are prepared to hand the striker a three-and-a-half-year contract, offering an annual after-tax salary of about €4.5 million.