UNITED and Arsenal are ready to hijack City’s move for Barcelona star Yaya Toure.

City defender Kolo Toure exclusively told MEN Sport this week that his brother would be interested in a move to Eastlands, saying: “If he can come, especially to a club in England, he would be really happy because the Premier League is a fantastic place to play football."

But while Mark Hughes has a long-standing interest in the midfielder, Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger are also confirmed admirers.

Toure’s agent, Dimitri Seluk, says a host Europe’s leading clubs are queuing up to sign the £15m-rated man, with United and Arsenal understood to be leading the chase.

Because of that Seluk insists his player will snub any chance to join Hughes’ Eastlands revolution.

“If Barca do not want Yaya then I can name eight other clubs, some of the biggest in the world, that are interested in signing him," he said.

"One thing I can say though is that if he does leave Barca he will not go to Manchester City  because he will sign for a bigger club.”

Ferguson still has the majority of the £80m Real Madrid paid for Cristiano Ronaldo to spend in the January transfer window and is monitoring a host of targets.

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Valencia pair David Villa and David Silva remain on his radar, while highly-rated Bordeaux star Marouane Chamak is another option.

It remains to be seen how heavily he will invest in the next transfer window with the United manager rarely making wholesale changes during the season.

But with his side in desperate need of a spark to replace Ronaldo it seems certain that he will enter the mid-season window with more gusto than in recent years.

Any move for Toure could depend on how Owen Hargreaves recovers from his double knee operation.

The England international is close to a return after nightmare 12 months.

He said: "It will be an amazing feeling to run out at Old Trafford again. I'll be so excited I'll probably pass out.

"I just can't wait to be part of it again, to be available and healthy. I want to be able to pull on the shirt and have an effect on games."