Man Utd's Ferguson faces another defeat as he bids to sign Huntelaar

LONDON: Manchester United look set to miss out on Klaas-Jan Huntelaar with Stuttgart poised to snatch the £20mil-rated Real Madrid star.

The German outfit want him to replace Mario Gomez, who has joined Bayern Munich, and have been locked in talks with Madrid over the last few days.

SunSport revealed Alex Ferguson’s interest in the Dutch hitman but the Scot will have to hurry if he does not want to be frustrated yet again in his efforts to bring top talent to Old Trafford.

Fergie has already lost Cristiano Ronaldo to Real and missed out on Lyon’s Karim Benzema when the Frenchman snubbed his advances in favour of a move to the Bernabeu.

And with Carlos Tevez expected to complete his move to Manchester City in the coming weeks, Fergie is keen to add another striker to compete for a starting berth with Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov.

Huntelaar, 25, is said to be keen on a move to Stuttgart were trying to thrash out terms with Madrid in order to beat United to the punch.

Madrid are desperate to raise cash in order to pay for their huge summer outlay which has already reached £184mil.

They also need to get rid of nine players and Holland ace Huntelaar is deemed surplus to requirements despite only joining in an £18m switch from Ajax in January.

Meanwhile, Sunderland are set to sign United striker Fraizer Campbell.

United have accepted a fee of around £5.5mil for the England Under-21 hitman.

And Black Cats boss Steve Bruce is likely to land his man early next week.

Campbell will head to the north east for a medical over the next few days.

The 21-year-old spent last season on loan at Tottenham after joining as part of the Dimitar Berbatov deal.

Campbell made 22 appearances, 13 of them as a substitute, and scored three goals during his spell at White Hart Lane.

Bruce has been targeting strikers throughout the summer.

He is understood to have tabled an £11mil offer for Portsmouth’s Peter Crouch.

Spurs marksman Darren Bent is also a target but Harry Redknapp’s asking price could prove to be a stumbling block. — The Sun, London