The centre-forward market...

Messier1994 said:
My guess is that ETH really would appreciate Randal Kolo Muani who signed with Eintracht Frankfurt as a Free Agent last season, turning down offers from both Liverpool and Tottenham.

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2022/01/18/randal-kolo-muani-liverpool-tottenham-eintracht-frankfurt/

A bit of an Alexander Isak type, who we de facto also bid for. Tall and good in the air, speedy, but he especially has great vision and reads the play well, good technique and so forth.

Was just thinking, if you sign with Frankfurt as a free agent despite interest from big PL clubs — you should have been able to get a very generous release clause. Could be a real good value signing if he got a release clause of say 20-30m.

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Not sure about style but it's tough to think of too many young strikers who could get in the French team and could maybe be signed for a non-crazy fee.

I haven't seen much of him or Gouiri but on paper them and David might be 1-2-3 for logical signings in that they won't cost 30M more than they should like the Prem strikers would and they're all young but already quite productive in good leagues. Not a ton of those around.
 
Messier1994 said:
My guess is that ETH really would appreciate Randal Kolo Muani who signed with Eintracht Frankfurt as a Free Agent last season, turning down offers from both Liverpool and Tottenham.

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2022/01/18/randal-kolo-muani-liverpool-tottenham-eintracht-frankfurt/

A bit of an Alexander Isak type, who we de facto also bid for. Tall and good in the air, speedy, but he especially has great vision and reads the play well, good technique and so forth.

Was just thinking, if you sign with Frankfurt as a free agent despite interest from big PL clubs — you should have been able to get a very generous release clause. Could be a real good value signing if he got a release clause of say 20-30m.

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I also like him, but I have to say there are no reports about a release clause, at least as far as I know. Apparently he signed for Frankfurt because they very early built a relation to him and essentially got his word that he would move to Frankfurt long before the other mentioned clubs showed interest in him.

Frankfurt's chief scout Ben Manga really did an exceptional job in the last few years, sad that it looks like he is going to leave Frankfurt to become DoF on Watford now...
 
Swordsman said:
guys, what's the difference between striker and centre forward ?
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If there is any difference (I think most people use the terms interchangably) then instictively I would have said the term "striker" implies being a goalscorer first and foremost while "centre-forward" implies being the central focal point of the attack.
 
I am not sure Osimhen or any other young striker playing for teams aiming at big targets could be bought in January, yet United would really benefit from getting a true striker in January… that leaves the door open to another stop gap, fading star signing, imho, to help for a CL spot and then goodbye.
 
Zed 101 said:
Remember the days when we had 4 strikers capable of scoring 20 plus goals a season? right now we have got zero strikers capable of that
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Haha. Yet another example of how far we have fallen.
 
Bepi said:
I am not sure Osimhen or any other young striker playing for teams aiming at big targets could be bought in January, yet United would really benefit from getting a true striker in January… that leaves the door open to another stop gap, fading star signing, imho, to help for a CL spot and then goodbye.
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Who are you suggesting here?
 
Zed 101 said:
Remember the days when we had 4 strikers capable of scoring 20 plus goals a season? right now we have got zero strikers capable of that
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We actually have 4 forwards who have scored 20 goals or more in a season not long ago but they are all either finished, constantly injured or out of form.
 
A big striker signing in January just ain't gonna happen. No club will sell their striker in January I think. An experienced but not over the hill loan signing in January would be good.

Who would fit the bill for this? There has got to be a few contenders out there.
 
Would it be a terrible idea to bring in Gakpo or Depay in January and then Osimhen next summer?

I don't see this season ending well, or anywhere close to its max potential for us, without bringing in an attacker asap.
 
Zed 101 said:
Remember the days when we had 4 strikers capable of scoring 20 plus goals a season? right now we have got zero strikers capable of that
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Even over the past 10 years we've been cack in that regard. You'll have to go back to SAF's last season for the last time we ever scored 75+ goals in the league in a single season.
 
Honestly United need TWO strikers. We are a bit thin up front and even more now with MG and Ronaldo going out the door. And Martial is always injured, Rashford is being ran into the ground too.
 
bosskeano said:
we already paid over the odds for two young guys in Diallo and Pellestri who will never play for United so ffs sign a guy that make an impact straight away not another kid
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Any club that doesn't think Moukoko can and should immediately be a starter won't be interesting for Moukoko I think.
 
Bepi said:
I am not sure Osimhen or any other young striker playing for teams aiming at big targets could be bought in January, yet United would really benefit from getting a true striker in January… that leaves the door open to another stop gap, fading star signing, imho, to help for a CL spot and then goodbye.
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Yeah no chance any of them leave in January,so like you say it means looking for yet another older stop gap signing
 
AaronRedDevil said:
Honestly United need TWO strikers. We are a bit thin up front and even more now with MG and Ronaldo going out the door. And Martial is always injured, Rashford is being ran into the ground too.
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Yeah we need a fluid forward who can play across the front positions but also a pure number 9 as well but doubt we get both
 
stefan92 said:
Any club that doesn't think Moukoko can and should immediately be a starter won't be interesting for Moukoko I think.
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Not that i don't think he's a talented player but he's not ready to lead the line for United
 
bosskeano said:
Not that i don't think he's a talented player but he's not ready to lead the line for United
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And on the bench he won't become ready, so I think we both agree on him - just wouldn't make sense
 
Erik the Red said:
He will be a free agent in the summer, so why would anyone pay £30m now when you can agree to sign him for free in 6 months?
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Yeah free is better. But even 30m€ is a steal. If that makes sure you get him ahead of someone else, in Jan.
 
mav_9me said:
Yeah free is better. But even 30m€ is a steal. If that makes sure you get him ahead of someone else, in Jan.
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At this point, the player holds the power, and why would he want his new club to pay £30m now, when he could tell the club he will join in the Summer for free, but he wants a £10m signing on fee.

Although he may be ready for first team football at a bigger club, I think he would be well advised to stay at Dortmund for another couple of years. They are probably the best "feeder club" for the big boys, and he has more likelihood of growing his reputation, before making the jump at 19.
 
bosskeano said:
we already paid over the odds for two young guys in Diallo and Pellestri who will never play for United so ffs sign a guy that make an impact straight away not another kid
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Can you really not see the difference between guys like Amad and Pellistri who were older than Moukoko is now when we signed them and hadn't played significant senior football and a kid who made his first team debut for a perennial champions league team at age 15 in a season he scored three goals. In his age 17 season, he has played 7.5 90s and has 6 goals and 3 assists and his non-penalty xG is in the 95th percentile so its not some crazy streak of finishing. They're just not comparable talents. Moukoko is performing at a high level right now at 17.
 
Gakpo and Sesko would be the dream. It would transform our attack completely. It would make too much sense though. Which means we will miss out on both and go for Choupo-Moting on a 5-year-deal.
 
I don't get the obsession with Sesko. He's obviously talented and has potential. But he's scored 4 goals in 15 games for the best team in the Austrian Bundesliga. There's no way he's rocking up to United and banging in 25 goals next year. And that is exactly what we need.

He's a great project for a top team who are sorted for the next couple of years but are looking for a managed transition in their strikeforce and can afford the £50-80m he'd cost. We have no such luxury, we need the real thing that can deliver from day 1.
 
Drizzle said:
I don't get the obsession with Sesko. He's obviously talented and has potential. But he's scored 4 goals in 15 games for the best team in the Austrian Bundesliga. There's no way he's rocking up to United and banging in 25 goals next year. And that is exactly what we need.

He's a great project for a top team who are sorted for the next couple of years but are looking for a managed transition in their strikeforce and can afford the £50-80m he'd cost. We have no such luxury, we need the real thing that can deliver from day 1.
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That's a massive difference. If we can get him for as low as 50-55M, yeah, I think it's worth it.
 
Drizzle said:
I don't get the obsession with Sesko. He's obviously talented and has potential. But he's scored 4 goals in 15 games for the best team in the Austrian Bundesliga. There's no way he's rocking up to United and banging in 25 goals next year. And that is exactly what we need.

He's a great project for a top team who are sorted for the next couple of years but are looking for a managed transition in their strikeforce and can afford the £50-80m he'd cost. We have no such luxury, we need the real thing that can deliver from day 1.
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Real thing that can deliver from day 1 ? 100m at least.
 
Swordsman said:
Real thing that can deliver from day 1 ? 100m at least.
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Well indeed. Maybe could get Kane for a bit less given he'd have only one year left.

It's why strikers cost so much. Scoring goals is the most important and valuable attribute for a team. Which is why, despite obvious progression in coaching, we're struggling to get in the top 4 this season.

If we go for a relatively cheap development punt like Gakpo or David then we are gambling with the next few seasons.
 
Drizzle said:
Well indeed. Maybe could get Kane for a bit less given he'd have only one year left.

It's why strikers cost so much. Scoring goals is the most important and valuable attribute for a team. Which is why, despite obvious progression in coaching, we're struggling to get in the top 4 this season.

If we go for a relatively cheap development punt like Gakpo or David then we are gambling with the next few seasons.
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Kane for 80m at least ? The "English tax"
 
stefan92 said:
Any club that doesn't think Moukoko can and should immediately be a starter won't be interesting for Moukoko I think.
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Great, should put us in the pole position for this kid! ;)

Seriously though, think this report could have some legs. The player of course makes sense, great young forward. Might not become a mega star, but he will become a good top level European player. But this is a signing that also check an important box, Dortmund bent us over several times over again regarding the Sancho signing. We need to start to draw a line in the sand regarding these things. A club can have a good relationship with us, and they can opt to not have it. If you opt to not have it, there must be a downside to it. It is as simple as that.

I would write this kid a blank check. 30m sign-on fee? Where do I sign? Can we do DocuSign? It is faster.
 
I like the look of Gakpo but I don't think he is answer to our striker problems, he offers similar attributes to Martial, Rashford and Antony, needs space to run into, may well be a good option to replace the new sicknote Martial

Osimhen looks far more what we need, better in tight spaces, much more physical, seems to have good positional sense for receiving crosses etc... how much would he cost though?

We need a striker with a physical presence, we have pace merchants, we have players with dazzling footwork, they are great in open games, on the break and look very tasty on YT but when faced with a team sitting back defending well they are much less effective, what we are missing is a player that can receive and hold the ball up, that can occupy and mix it up with the defenders, create space and be a general menace in the 6 yard box.

Even when Rashford and Martial play in a central role, they drop deep or pull wide, central defenders must love facing Utd, all they have to do is back up their fullbacks/wingbacks we offer absolutely no threat through the middle

put simply I would rather spend £100m on Osimhen than I would £40m on Gakpo (obviously would prefer to get both)... and still want Toney regardless
 
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