Sir Alex Ferguson
Ferguson has his eye on Huntelaar. REUTERS

Manchester United striker target Klaas Jan Huntelaar has been compared to Marco van Basten by German football manager Bernd Schuster, as the Netherlands international continues to display fine form in the Bundesliga.

Huntelaar has starred for Schalke since joining the club last summer, and has scored 20 goals in 37 appearances for the club.

Manchester United have long been connected to the star, and though he had some disappointing spells at Real Madrid and AC Milan, Huntelaar has discovered his best form in Germany, and the 28 year old is now the subject of a great deal of transfer speculation.

In the past, Huntelaar has claimed he's flattered by interest from a team the calibre of United, and Schuster, whose management credentials include Levante and Real Madrid, believes that the hitman can become as good as Dutch legend Marco van Basten.

"He looks like he was cloned from van Basten," Schuster said.

"The way he moves, shoots with both legs and his powerful headers, all reminds me of Van Basten."

United have been interested in Huntelaar for a number of years, dating back to his time at Ajax in 2006-2009. Some pundits believed that the English giants had cooled their interest recently, but as the goal scorer keeps performing for Schalke, his value is obvious to even the largest sceptic.

And after scoring six goals in his last six appearances for the side, Huntelaar is currently in his best form. Team-mate Lewis Holtby also had praise for the Dutchman's abilities as a goal scorer.

"You could behead him and he would still score goals," he mused. "I knew the Dutch knew the holes in their cheeses but Klaas finds every hole in the opposition defence."

United have insisted that they are not in the market for any players in the January transfer window, with Sir Alex Ferguson admitting that while he has 'two or three' targets in mind, he won't be able to land them until next summer at least.

And should Huntelaar be available next summer, United will no doubt be in the mix for the man who is receiving much praise throughout Germany at the moment.