West Bromwich Albion are ready to battle Everton for Morgan Schneiderlin in January after tabling a club record £18m offer for the Manchester United outcast.
The Baggies are determined to beat the Toffees to the signing of the 27-year-old, who has been frozen out of the first-team picture under United boss Jose Mourinho.
Everton are allegedly already in discussions with United over taking Schneiderlin off their hands in the winter transfer window, but the Telegraph now claims that West Brom are looking to gazzump the Blues by making the first official bid for the midfielder.
West Brom manager Tony Pulis will be acutely aware that Schneiderlin would favour a move to Everton over the Midlands outfit, with the Merseysiders seen as a more attractive proposition and with the potential for Schneiderlin to link up again with former Southampton gaffer Ronald Koeman.
However, Pulis is said to be holding out hope that, by officially putting a large sum of cash on the table, United may be inclined to deal with them first ahead of the Toffees.
Albion are believed to have significant funds to spend in January as Pulis look to cement his side's position as a top 10 club in the Premier League following a decent first-half to the 2016/17 campaign.
The Baggies currently find themselves in eighth position ahead of the festive fixture schedule, and the 58-year-old wants to ensure that his team is suitably strengthened ahead of the second half of the season.
He recently said: We have to make sure that we hang in there until the window opens and fingers crossed we can add one or two to the squad.
"That's what we need to do, add one or two to the squad and keep things ticking over and going in the right direction."
Schneiderlin has not featured for United's first team since making a brief cameo appearance from the bench in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in November.
West Brom have made an £18m bid for Morgan Schneiderlin, according to Sky sources: https://t.co/fZycf17EQa pic.twitter.com/yjFOmcj0H1
The France international has featured just eight times under Mourinho this term, with his only starts coming in the EFL Cup and Europa League.
The ex-Strasbourg star joined the Red Devils from Southampton for £24m in the summer of 2015 on a reported £120,000-a-week contract, and would be expected to take a pay cut if he decides to sever ties with United and complete a permanent move to West Brom or Everton.
If Schneiderlin joins the Baggies, his transfer fee would eclipse the current club record £13m signing of Nacer Chadli from last summer.
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