Manchester United are preparing a shock £50million bid for Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

According to The Sun, the Gunners could cash in on their star man with his contract set to expire in the summer of 2021.

Arsenal chiefs have supposedly accepted the 30-year-old will not sign a new deal and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is ready to take advantage.

Aubameyang has been linked with a move away from Mikel Arteta’s side with the club crashing out of the Europa League and currently ninth in the Premier League table.

Arsenal paid Borussia Dortmund a club record fee of £56million for the Gabon international in January 2018.

Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain are also thought to be interested in signing the striker and would be able to offer him Champions League football assuming the competition goes ahead as planned next season.

Manchester United brought in Odion Ighalo on loan from Chinese side Shanghai Greenland Shenhua in January after failing to sign Bournemouth’s Josh King.

Ighalo has made an impressive start to life at Old Trafford but it is unclear how long he will stay at the club.

The club are yet to find a long-term replacement for Romelu Lukaku and have suffered injuries to both Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial this season.

Aubameyang already has 20 goals in all competitions for 2019/2020 after scoring 31 times in the previous campaign.

Head of football Raul Sanllehi and technical director Edu wanted the club captain to commit his long term future to the Gunners but Sanllehi and managing director Vinai Venkatesham have also insisted they will avoid repeating the situations of Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere who both left on a free transfer.

Mesut Ozil, Bukayo Saka, Shkodran Mustafi and Reiss Nelson are also out of contract in 2021 but there is more urgency to sort out Aubameyang’s future.