Danny Ings
Ings has been impressive in his first season in the Premier LeagueReuters

Manchester United are reportedly hoping to beat Liverpool to the signature of Burnley's Danny Ings as Louis van Gaal targets a new striker in the summer.

Now that the Red Devils are right on track to qualify for the Champions League, van Gaal will be keen to further reinforce his squad so that they will be able to compete in the European competition as well as the Premier League next season.

Despite spending a fortune on new players last summer, United initially struggled this season, doing very poorly in the Premier League and other competitions.

However, United's squad seems to have finally gelled as they have been doing very well of late, recording six straight wins in the Premier League.

Their good form of late have certainly made the fans happy, but van Gaal is reportedly still not satisfied with his current strikers.

Radamel Falcao's sensational £6 million loan move from Monaco to United has proved to be a big flop, with the Colombian only managing four goals from 23 appearances in all competitions this season. So it is unlikely that United will be taking up the option to sign him permanently for £43.5 million after the end of the season

The Red Devils' other strikers Wayne Rooney and Robin van Perise have been a little better, netting 14 and 10 goals in all competitions respectively this season, but van Gaal is reportedly looking for an attacker who can give him around 20 to 25 goals in a single campaign.

As a result, the Red Devils are being linked to a number of strikers including Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski and Paris Saint-Germain's Edinson Cavani.

And according to Daily Mail, Burnley's Danny Ings is the latest player to be linked with a summer move to Old Trafford.

Although the 22-year-old striker has only managed to net nine goals from 29 appearances in the Premier League this season, United are confident that Ings, with the right training, could turn out to be a lethal striker in the future.

Liverpool were earlier thought to be in pole position to sign the striker in the summer, with Brendan Rodgers making an unsuccessful bid for the striker in the January transfer window.

But the Red Devils are now leading the race to sign him following reports of them already making contact with Burnley to speed up the transfer.

Ings is out of contract at Burnley after the end of this season, but it is believed that the Clarets will be receiving a compensation of £5 million if he moves to an English club.