Louis van Gaal has made Kevin Strootman a £30m January target for Manchester United – and the midfielder would be open to the move should Roma consider it, although there is yet to be any official contact between the clubs.

The Dutchman is recovering from a serious knee injury that has ruled him out of Van Gaal’s Holland squad for the World Cup in Brazil, with the 24-year-old not expected to play again until the autumn.

While Strootman is content at Roma and has four years left on the contract he signed last summer, he is aware of Van Gaal’s interest, with the manager having selected him regularly for the national squad. However, Strootman’s agent, Chiel Dekker, insisted that only if Roma were minded to sell would the transfer occur.

“He won’t be back playing until autumn – that’s the time schedule at the moment,” Dekker told the Guardian. “He is of interest to Louis van Gaal but not related to Manchester United at this point.”

Dekker admitted Strootman, who has been injured since March, might be of interest to Van Gaal in the future. “Could be but he’s in Rome and he had a terrific season,” Dekker said. “There has been nothing between the clubs or between Louis and Kevin – they know each other and like each other but at this stage it’s not related to Man United.

“Roma do not want to sell. The first thing is it’s all between the clubs. And it’s also a very difficult decision because he has to choose between a fantastic club in Rome, a club that bought him and supported him while he was injured and [then] you have his personal coach of the national team at United.

“The clubs have to decide. He’s very happy at Rome, he’s happy to stay because they play Champions League next season and happy to recover [from] his injury, so at this stage we are not part of any discussion.”

Asked what type of midfielder Strootman is, Dekker said: “He’s all – so he’s creative, he’s box-to-box.”

Strootman, who made 24 Serie A starts and scored five goals in the league before suffering the injury against Napoli, played for PSV Eindhoven before moving to Roma for about €20m.

Having previously played for Utrecht and Sparta Rotterdam, Strootman has 25 Holland caps and three goals.