Manchester United 'to battle Manchester City for £50m Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng' as Shaw fights for spot

Jerome Boateng playing for Bayern Munich. [Photo: Courtesy]

Manchester United will go head to head with Manchester City in the summer in a bid to land £50m-rated Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng.

That is according to The Sun, who say the bitter rivals also face competition from Real Madrid and Barcelona for the 29-year-old.

Boateng left City seven years ago and Blues boss Pep Guardiola is an admirer having coached the centre-half in Munich.

Jose Mourinho is keen to bolster his backline as United look to challenge for the Premier League crown next season and is reportedly pondering a swoop.

Shaw fights to stay

Luke Shaw with Jose Mourinho. [Photo: Courtesy]

Meanwhile, Manchester United defender Luke Shaw has been doing extra work on the training ground during the international break, following his criticism from Jose Mourinho.

Shaw, 22, has been turning up to Carrington, despite being given time off by the Portuguese coach, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Shaw was substituted at half-time in the FA Cup win over Brighton at the weekend.

The players not involved in the international fixtures have been given time to rest by the United manager with Chris Smalling posting pictures of his beach break with his wife on his Instagram page.

However, after the latest barrage of criticism Shaw appears to be wanting to prove a point to the United boss by putting in the extra hours.

Mourinho and Shaw have had a tumultuous relationship since the Portuguese manager arrived at the club with the United boss criticising the young defender publicly on a number of occassions.

When asked why Shaw was subbed against Brighton, Mourinho said: "I wanted my defensive line to be more solid and I want more personality in my team because many times I felt that [Nemanja] Matic was an island of personality, desire, and control surrounded by a lack of personality, a lack of class, and a lack of desire.”

And Shaw will be hoping to prove his manager wrong, with his extra training sessions, ahead of the next game against Swansea at Old Trafford.