How Manchester United could benefit from transfer chaos at Real and Arsenal

News broke on Wednesday night that United have tabled a £35 million bid for unsettled Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos, whose wage demands have apparently caused a huge rift between him and the European giants.

And Ramos's exit looked all the more certain when Spanish newspaper Marca reported on Thursday morning that Real Madrid have contacted Valencia's Nicolas Otamendi about a switch.

Otamendi, the paper adds, "put the brakes on negotiations with a Premier League club" since he and his people didn't want anything to jeopardise a potential move to Real.

But Thursday's papers also report that Real are keen on Arsenal centre-back Laurent Koscielny. Arsenal won't want to sell, but with Real offering £25m or more they may feel that they have no option - the purse strings at the Emirates are nothing like as tight as they are, but they're still liable to have their heads turned by a nice little earner.

That opens up a potential situation that would have United fans salivating: if Real settle on Koscielny, United might yet end up with both Ramos AND Otamendi, which would give them perhaps the most formidable central defensive pairing in Europe.

There are still question marks over this side, of course. Would Michael Carrick be shoehorned into the line-up? If so, would it be at the expense of Blind?

Then there is the full-back question: will Luke Shaw start to show his real promise? Will United bring in an upgrade for Antonio Valencia at right-back?

But there's no doubt that this potential line-up looks like a side that could well challenge for the Premier League - and could also go deep into the knockout stages of the Champions League.