Bayern Munich have warned that long-term United transfer target Owen Hargreaves is not guaranteed a move to Old Trafford in the summer.

United tabled a bid for the Canadian-born Englishman in January - reported to be around £20million - but Munich rejected the offer.

Sir Alex Ferguson has made no secret of his desire to bring Hargreaves to Manchester, and Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge claims the intitial offer remains on the table in the summer.

But he says the Bundesliga champions do not have to sell. "We have had a very large offer for Hargreaves from Manchester United and it remains valid until this coming summer," he is quoted as saying in The Sun.

"But he has a contract with Bayern Munich until 2010 and we are in the fortunate position that our finances are in top shape.

"We'll be presenting another first-class balance sheet this year, so we can still say 'no' if a club like Manchester United come in with a large offer for one of our players."

Rummenigge believes his club are in the driving seat because there are few players in Europe of the calibre of Hargreaves in his position.

"Fortunately, Bayern Munich enjoy special status. There aren’t many players of Owen Hargreaves’ quality in the holding midfielder position and our aim is to build a team capable of great things, not just domestically, but in Europe."

With Henrik Larsson's loan expired, the tabloids have gone into overdrive in seeking out a raft of suggested strikers to fill the Swedish forward's boots.

Rumours resurfaced recently of interest in Fernando Torres, while The People have tipped United to be in the hunt for Barcelona goal machine Samuel Eto'o if he became available.

The latest rumour - another familiar tale to transfer rumour aficionados - is that Eto'o's team-mate Eidur Gudjohnsen will be the one heading for Old Trafford this summer

Holland are confident Reds goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar will be fit to face Slovenia in the next bout of Euro 2008 qualifiers on Wednesday.

Van der Sar has been suffering from a calf injury and hasn’t played since United beat Lille in the Champions League on 7 March. But Dutch coach Marco van Basten says the 36-year-old keeper is nearing a return, which is good news ahead of the Reds' Premiership clash with Blackburn on Saturday.

"It will become clear over the next couple of days whether Edwin will play. He trained on Saturday, but not with the rest of the players. If we didn't think he had a chance of playing we wouldn't have included him in the squad."

The England squad, including Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick and Ben Foster, must improve on their 0-0 draw with Israel when under-fire Steve McClaren’s side take on Andorra at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona. In third place, they are in desperate need of a positive result.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored twice in Portugal’s 4-0 thrashing of Belgium, comes face to face with United team-mate Nemanja Vidic in Group A, where Serbia will hope to recover from a 2-1 defeat to Kazakhstan, their first ever competitive win.

Group A leaders Poland, for whom Tomasz Kuszczak is again likely to be on the bench, meet Armenia.

In Group D, Ryan Giggs’ Wales take on bottom-placed San Marino, while John O’Shea will be hoping the Republic of Ireland can build on their narrow 1-0 win over the Welsh at the weekend when they

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take on Slovakia.

Northern Ireland rose to second place in Group F with a 4-1 win over Liechtenstein on Saturday, and Jonny Evans, who played the full 90 minutes, is in line to play a part in Wednesday's top-of-the-table clash with Sweden.