Manchester City will send an early riposte to Erik ten Hag by joining the summer battle for West Ham's £100million England star Declan Rice.
City, who have been gazumped by United in recent years for Alexis Sanchez and Cristiano Ronaldo, are ready to back Pep Guardiola in the transfer market and dent Ten Hag's impact at Old Trafford following his appointment last week.
Though a deal for £63million Dortmund striker Erling Haaland has already been agreed, City bosses have made it clear they can go after Rice as well with club captain Fernandinho departing to leave a vacancy in midfield.
City's net spend over the past 12 months has been a modest £37million with the record signing of Jack Grealish mostly offset by selling Ferran Torres, Jack Harrison and Angelino.
It gives the current Premier League champions a huge financial advantage over United who want to build a new-look team around Rice but whose budget will be restricted should they miss out on qualifying the Champions League.
In addition, the prospect of challenging for trophies under Pep Guardiola would be more attractive to 23-year-old Rice than having to help rebuild a club which needs 'open-heart surgery' according to their current interim Ralf Rangnick.
It's understood that City have already requested to be kept informed of Rice's future plans and made it clear they are a viable destination.
The only sticking point would be West Ham's valuation. Last summer, they refused to match the £150million asking price demanded by Tottenham for Harry Kane believing the price was inflated.
Rice, who has captained West Ham for most of this season, has not engaged in signing a new contract as he assesses his options.
Ideally, he would like a return to Chelsea who released him as a 14-year-old but the current instability at Stamford Bridge with Roman Abramovich forced to sell the club after sanctions makes that unlikely.
Ahead of Sunday's London derby between Chelsea and West Ham at Stamford Bridge, Blues boss Thomas Tuchel suggested the England international would not be heading to his club.
'Maybe he is out of our league even if we don't have the crisis,' said Tuchel. 'That can be when you hear the numbers that are floating around.
'As you know, we generally don't speak about other players, when it comes to whether we are interested, not interested because we take care of the guys that we have here.
'The situation gives me a slight advantage in that at the moment we cannot even think about buying or selling or doing whatever, so there is nothing to think about.'
Even so, Tuchel is full of admiration for Rice's all-round game in midfield. 'I rate him very highly, not just that he seems to be a very nice guy which everybody tells me from the Chelsea academy, but that he proves it.
'It feels like he plays every single game. He is available, he is captain, he plays with a lot of responsibility, he is a very physical player.
'A very strategic-minded player. A key player for his team. Strong in set pieces. I think that is not a surprise, everybody sees it.
'He takes responsibility. He is a huge part of the success of this team. And it's impressive, of course.'
West Ham will hope qualifying for the Champions League by winning the Europa League will be their trump card in persuading Rice to stay another season.
The Hammers face Eintracht Frankfurt in their semi-final first leg at the London Stadium on Thursday.