Yeah he doesn't score goals so he would fit the team who don't pass to a striker like a glove
Striker options?
- Thread starter Messier1994
- Start date
Stop buying players unsuited for the team and overpaying our current players maybe?
FFP needs to be stricter if anything. We got into this mess because the club was shit at spending money. Look at the contracts we gave to Sancho and Rashford
We would probably have had a more successful recruitment strategy had we blindfolded Woodward and gave him a phonebook.Stop buying players unsuited for the team and overpaying our current players maybe?
FFP needs to be stricter if anything. We got into this mess because the club was shit at spending money. Look at the contracts we gave to Sancho and Rashford
If it’s true then he‘s the realistic striker option we can afford in the summer. On paper, both of him and Hojlund are good striker options to rotate. The thing is that If we end up paying big on Toney or Osimhen, most likely Hojlund will not get enough minutes to develop. You don’t spend 100m on player to rotate.
That feels like the plan. Would be different if we were stuff in Europe probably.
Joao Pedro is better than him at the moment - be nice if he had some sort of clause…
A ‘horst, a ‘Horst! My kingdom for a ‘horst!! 
A ‘horst, a ‘Horst! My kingdom for a ‘horst!!
If we are wanting to go down the British route Ivan Toney would be a superb signing.
Boniface is looking very promising - strong, tall, quick, good finisher, good passer, great both with his back to goal and faced forwards, and makes very good decisions up top for Leverkusen. He looks mint this season.
Cunha starting to look a proper player, was impressed with him against us too. How much would he cost?
I’m not mad at the Callum Wilson links. The right experienced back up profile, apparently touted at 18m in January.
Make of this what you will:
https://sportwitness.co.uk/manchest...-club-season-red-devils-already-made-contact/
https://sportwitness.co.uk/manchest...-club-season-red-devils-already-made-contact/
We should be going for Joao Pedro. But I think he could be better than Hojlund right now rather than a back up.
Pedro can play across the front 3, or behind Hojlund. He'd be a very smart signing (but would no doubt cost silly £).
There seems to be a big debate surrounding the profile of striker we need. Perhaps Højlund's recent run of goals have altered things slightly for some, but others would still very much like a player bang in their prime whom they consider will 'guarantee goals'. Toney and Osimhen are two who are often mentioned. Others may feel that we should put all of our trust in Højlund and sign an older, experienced head to back him up and contribute to sharing the burden slightly.
Personally, I'd prefer we target another young striker to compete with Højlund. Be it one of Leipzig's Openda or Sesko, Joshua Zirkzee of Bologna, or somebody else. I like the idea of Højlund and another young striker of high potential, who can pretty much come in and contribute right away.
Personally, I'd prefer we target another young striker to compete with Højlund. Be it one of Leipzig's Openda or Sesko, Joshua Zirkzee of Bologna, or somebody else. I like the idea of Højlund and another young striker of high potential, who can pretty much come in and contribute right away.
I don't think we should spend more then 40m-50m on a striker. First of all we don't have much money to spend. Secondly we've got too many positions to strengthen and finally we've already have a decent striker in Hojlund. In my opinion we should take a look at the following
Youngsters
Santiago Gimenez - age 22, 6ft tall, 20 goals and 4 assists this season in the Dutch league. He's very hardworking, he's gifted with a good technique and a good eye to goal. He scored two goals against Lazio as well.
Victor Boniface - age 23, 6ft3, 16 goals in 22 games (Bayern Leverkusen). The guy reminds me alot of Isak. he's tall, he's quick, he's technically gifted and fast.
Zirkzee - age 22, 6ft4 9 goals in 26 games with Bologna. He's still not the complete product but there's ample talent there
Older players
Ben Yedder -age 33. 11 goals in 19 games in the French league. He'll be a free agent next summer
Taremi - age 31 - very highly rated in the Portuguese league
Youngsters
Santiago Gimenez - age 22, 6ft tall, 20 goals and 4 assists this season in the Dutch league. He's very hardworking, he's gifted with a good technique and a good eye to goal. He scored two goals against Lazio as well.
Victor Boniface - age 23, 6ft3, 16 goals in 22 games (Bayern Leverkusen). The guy reminds me alot of Isak. he's tall, he's quick, he's technically gifted and fast.
Zirkzee - age 22, 6ft4 9 goals in 26 games with Bologna. He's still not the complete product but there's ample talent there
Older players
Ben Yedder -age 33. 11 goals in 19 games in the French league. He'll be a free agent next summer
Taremi - age 31 - very highly rated in the Portuguese league
Hojlund has immense talent and is now proving it with output - even if a small sample size. We just need an option to rotate or throw on when chasing a goal. Also Hojlund runs so much throughout the game it's no surprise he gets subbed off towards the end of games.
Somebody like Callum Wilson would be ideal, I'm not so sure he's interested in that role though.
Another option is somebody who is a striker but can also play across the line, like a Joao Pedro.
In the old 4-4-2 days, I would absolutely love to see Hojlund and Ferguson up top together, although not sure how much they compliment each other and maybe more of 'Football Manager setup'
Somebody like Callum Wilson would be ideal, I'm not so sure he's interested in that role though.
Another option is somebody who is a striker but can also play across the line, like a Joao Pedro.
In the old 4-4-2 days, I would absolutely love to see Hojlund and Ferguson up top together, although not sure how much they compliment each other and maybe more of 'Football Manager setup'
Would make the most sense for me now Hojlund is coming into form. We're not going to spend a tonne on a striker now, wouldn't make much sense.
Need to spend a big percentage of the summer transfer pot on a first choice CB, so the back-up CF option can't be a transfer record or anything crazy.
But who is out there? I don't watch enough football outside of the Prem tbh.
But who is out there? I don't watch enough football outside of the Prem tbh.
The job is in my opinion too big for us to go for dead certs. We therefore need to pick up those players who usually go to the likes of Brighton before they sign for the likes of us on crazy money. We've already had shown with Mainoo, Rashford and Garnacho our ability to polish rough diamonds.
Regarding defence Braithwaite should be our no 1 target. Having said that since Maguire, Varane and possibly Lindelof are leaving can't we go on the cheap by maybe signing someone like Hermoso. He'll be a free agent next summer and he can play as CB and LB. Also would Sir Jim be willing to sell us Todibo for a decent price?
So would you go down the older or younger player route for another striker given the option?
The Younger options you suggest are all decent forget the aging lothario in his G string united need to change tact, one other younger option should be Benjamin Sesko who I genuinely think could be available for £30m and he has everything to compete with Hojlund and play as a clever 10 too.
Senior options now should be aged from 26-29 no older options ; Artem Dovbyk(26) at Girona or Patrik Schick just turned 28 at Leverkusen both available at £30-40m max.
We need to target
He seems to pick up injuries easy is my concern,like others have said maybe we need more of a versatile forward who can play all along the front 3
I think experience is overrated TBH. We had Ibra and Cavani upfront but it didn't turned the likes of Martial and Rashford into goal machines. We had Rio and Vidic at the back but they hardly turned Smalling and Jones into WC CBs either and no amount of experience was enough to keep young Phil Neville from engaging into a reckless tackle in that FA semi final replay which nearly cost us the treble
Experienced players have two uses.
a- you have a very competitive side that lacks that one player in a key position that can make a difference (ex RVP)
b- the old player is a top player from a stronger/more professional league whose joining a smaller side (ex Vialli at Chelsea)
In rare circumstances the experienced player might be bothered enough to engage in 1 to 1 training with academy players like Cantona did. Unfortunately that's not usually the case with the today's breed of old players whose aim is to pick their final pay cheque and to make sure not to pick an injury that would cripple them for the rest of their life. Who knows, maybe they can squeeze a final pay cheque elsewhere (Saudi?). On top of that no player can defeat father time. I've seen the best CB of his generation ie Franco Baresi being completely annihilated by a young Vieri against Juventus in a humiliating 6-1 defeat. Really it was like me stepping on the ring against Prime Tyson. Yep it was that bad.
The EPL was always a difficult league for old players. Its very physical and played at high tempo. Its became worse since it became the best league in the world which means that there's nothing to exploit through experience gained elsewhere.
Now let's have a look at United
a- United need 2-3 years to go back on top. Which means that these older players will be on the way out (and with them the older players we've got) by the time we hit peak and therefore they need to be replaced
b- We already have experience in Bruno, Rashford, Varane, McT, Maguire, Casemiro etc. Sure some might be sold in the summer but let's not forget that most of the other players had ample experience in the EPL that is, currently, the best league in the world.
c- our fitness/coaching system is not good. Players do regress at Manchester United and old players tend to resent that more then most cause they lack the legs to compensate that
d- United are using a high pressing system which needs loads of gas in the tank. Older players lack that and quite frankly most don't want to get engaged into too much hassle either. They made their money, they know their body limitations and they don't want to carry an injury for the rest of their life (believe me its bad just ask Van Basten or Batistuta)
e- The issue with the forward line is not down to experience but tactics/players profile. Our wingers hate passing the ball, our FBs can't overlap and our CM's play too high up which means that they leave huge gaps at the back and in AMs (Bruno is being forced to be everywhere, everytime thus he's rarely in the position were he should be)
Thus unless we go for someone whose dirt cheap (the Michael Owen/Henrik Larson type of signing) then we should go for a young player. He'll brings hunger and energy to the team and he'll peak when the rest of the squad does.
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You left off Callum Wilson in the older options who I think would be a genuine possibility and I wouldn't hate. But personally I'd go for one of the young ones. Can compete with Hojland and see which one makes it. Whichever one doesn't becomes either a useful backup or a sellable asset. Boniface looks excellent, but Zirkzee would be much cheaper.
The other one that hasn't been mentioned but should be strongly considered is Jonathan David; great goalscoring record in the French league, only one year left on his contract; we could probably get him for a very decent price.
I wonder if PSR is gonna have implications on transfers between PL clubs. Say we signed Wilson for £20m, sure we strengthen our forward line, but don't we also effectively give Newcastle an extra £80m-odd to spend in line with their calculations? We probably do our chances of a strong league finish more harm than good in that scenario.
I didn't think of that. I suppose you weigh up how important the player is to you, especially if they're going to get the 20mil anyway from someone else.
Callum Wilson is on 110k a week, he's 31 and he's injury prone. We should avoid players like that especially since they are heading at the end of their career.
Didn't realise Toney only had a year left in the summer...
No doubt they'll demand 100 million, and Chelsea will pay it
No doubt they'll demand 100 million, and Chelsea will pay it
I wonder how realistic Ollie Watkins would be,
currently 28, should be a decent foil for Hoijlund and not obstruct his development, but depends if he would be a first choice or a back up
currently 28, should be a decent foil for Hoijlund and not obstruct his development, but depends if he would be a first choice or a back up
Dawson is talking up us looking at players in last year of their contracts in latest tweet such as David
Jonathan David is on the last year of his contract and could be a good backup striker for Hojlund. His goalscoring record is definitely impressive and his pressing is a good system fit for eth.
Good shout, he has been very good this season and has some nice skills. The front line lacks a reliable dribbler too.
Matheus Nunes costs 53m, so something like that.
He would expect to start, he would definitely obstruct Hojlund's development.
Didn't realise Toney only had a year left in the summer...
No doubt they'll demand 100 million, and Chelsea will pay it
Yeah wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have the FFP regulations and other positions as an issue
Yeah at the figures being mentioned (around £18-20m) absolutely no way should we be signing Wilson. At a more fair and modest fee at let’s say £8m I’d be down for it.
But I’d also look to sign Zirkzee who can also provide ST depth and can probs play a role anywhere across the front 4 if needed too.
Not that realistic IMO. Villa have no reason to sell and would charge minimum 80mil because they can.