Manchester United are understood to be informally gathering information on managerial candidate Erik ten Hag.
The news comes after United reportedly held an interview with the Ajax manager, after intense links between him and the club since the sacking of the last permanent boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Ralf Rangnick has been in interim charge since then, but he will move upstairs into a consultancy position for the next two years when the summer comes.
Sky Sports are reporting United are following the full process of the managerial appointment and are now gathering more information behind the scenes before they make a final decision on the Dutchman.
Ten Hag, 52, still has a contract with Ajax which runs until 2023 meaning United will need to cough up a fee for him in order to bring him over from Ajax.
Mauricio Pochettino is the other candidate who is the front runner for the role, but his chances of becoming the United boss seem to grow dimmer by the day.
Ten Hag ended the five-year Eredivise drought the club were experiencing, and has won two in total with a third looking likely to follow at the end of this season (he would have three already but one season was declared null and void due to the Covid-19 pandemic). He was also responsible for crafting an Ajax team which made an unlikely run to the semi-finals of the Champions League.