Manchester United are in the midst of a transitional period under the tutelage of Erik ten Hag, who assumed the role of head coach at Old Trafford earlier this year, and Enzo Fernandez is the name being considered to spearhead the revival.

With a lucrative summer sweep across Europe parting the club with roughly £213m and bolstering the side ahead of an attempted surge towards the top of the Premier League once again, the Red Devils have certainly made steady gains across the maiden period of their Dutch manager's tenure, with a recent determined victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers placing the club back in the top-four after 16 matches played.

And now the club look set to make a signing capable of ascending the squad towards title-winning contention, with SL Benfica's 21-year-old maestro Fernandez at the forefront of the transfer attention.

According to Argentine journalist Gaston Edul, John Murtough and United are among the suitors for Fernandez, whose agent has travelled to Portugal with him to forge a move, should an interested party pay his €120m (£103m) release clause.

Old Trafford's next Scholes

Fernandez's precocious talents were already distinguished by the likes of Man United, but his exploits at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, scoring a goal and assisting one more from five starts as he played an integral role in his nation's monumental triumph in bringing the coveted trophy back to Argentina.

As per Sofascore, the dynamo recorded an impressive average rating of 7.10, exhibiting his supreme ball-playing ability with an 88% passing accuracy across the tournament, winning 59% of his duels, completing 60% of his dribbles and displaying his industrious side by making 3.1 tackles per outing - vital in snuffing out danger and swiftly instigating dangerous forward manoeuvres.

His all-encompassing nature offers shades of a former Red Devil icon in Paul Scholes, who made 714 appearances across his one-club career at the Theatre of Dreams, scoring 153 goals and serving 75 assists as he frequently captained one of the most eminent and destructive teams football has seen - winning 11 Premier League trophies and two Champions League among a wealth of major honours as he earned an ever-lasting place within the pantheon of the sport's brightest stars.

With FBref, ranking the "beast" - as lauded by reporter Ives Galarcep for his role in a strike at the World Cup - within the top 1% of midfielders throughout the world's next eight leagues for progressive passes, the top 2% for shot-creating actions and the top 1% for assists per 90.

With the Old Trafford rebuild firmly underway, Fernandez would be a destructive presence to inject into the fold, possibly indeed emulating Scholes in orchestrating the good fortunes for the next era at the club.