Manchester United target Ilkay Gundogan's girlfriend hints at Old Trafford move

Manchester United have received a massive boost in their pursuit of Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan after his girlfriend hinted that he will move to England in the summer.

The German midfielder has been strongly linked with a move to Old Trafford after having informed the Bundesliga club of his desire to leave in the summer.

Louis van Gaal is actively looking for a midfielder to replace Michael Carrick, who is in the twilight of his career and has identified Gundogan as the perfect candidate to take over the mantle from the Englishman.

Sila Sahin, who is the girlfriend of the Dortmund midfielder posted a picture of an airport departure board that read "Manchester" on Instagram with the caption "Wo bin ich?" which translates to "Where am I?" hinting that the midfielder could be Premier League-bound and set to join the 20-time English champions.

Apart from United, the German international has been linked with Arsenal and Barcelona, with reports suggesting that the midfielder has already completed a medical with the Catalans ahead of a move later in the year.

Dortmund are certain that the player will leave the club and have already identified a replacement in Gonzalo Castro, who plays for Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga.

The midfielder, who has spent the last 16 years in the same club, has a €11m release clause in his current deal and the German club are confident that Dortmund will match that to land their preferred target.

"Normally, there would have been no need to do that, because of the clause, but I can understand that they tried to reduce the price a bit," Leverkusen sporting director Rudi Voller is quoted as saying by ESPN FC.

"But we won't allow him to leave for less, and so BVB have to activate the clause -- and it appears that they'll do it, just like we had expected," the former German international added.