Manchester United have lined up Southampton striker Sadio Mane as the hit-man to boost the Reds goal account.
A shock bid for the 23-year-old Senegalese forward was lodged with the St Mary's club last week but it is not clear if the unspecified bid was rejected by Saints.
The fact, however, that the Reds have confirmed they had dropped their interest in Barcelona's Pedro under instructions from manager Louis van Gaal suggests that United are confident they will lure Mane from the South Coast club.
Southampton have insisted he is not for sale.
Mane only signed a four-year contract at Southampton last September when he cost them £11.8m from Red Bull Salzburg having scored 31 league goals in 63 matches for the Austrian club in two years.
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He made a decent impact in England with 10 league goals last term in 31 games including a Premier League record when he scored a hat trick against Aston Villa in just two minutes and 56 seconds in the Saints 6-1 rout last May.
He got his 2015-16 account underway this month when he scored for Southampton in their Europa League second leg qualifier against Vitesse Arnhem and Van Gaal has surprisingly identified, the one time Metz and Senegalese Olympic 2012 player as a tricky addition to the Reds attacking department.
United have lost Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao this summer having let them go and have only added the return of Javier Hernandez as an established senior to back up skipper Wayne Rooney.
Rooney's three-match blank start has added urgency to the quest to land another front man.
Click through the gallery of United's summer transfer targets.