The centre-forward market...

[Rozay]

Sesko is maybe a bit undercooked — but it’s not by much. Don’t really think he is behind someone like Nunez — who do great much with his pressing and runs — by much and I would take Sesko over Vlahovic right now for sure.

Best thing for Sesko now is to play football I think, and I don’t see him as ready to be relied upon weekly by United. Of course, we could still just play him weekly anyway, but that is unlikely to work. After two years of not being good enough, there’s likely to be anything left mentally to just become great. If we were an all conquering side, then I wouldn’t mind him in the team contributing and improving at his own pace. But as we are, we actually need significant contribution from our 9, so if he isn’t ready, we simply won’t be good enough. We can’t have that for a year or two.

If there was a way we could sign him and send him to say, a PSV (or depending on our owners - Nice), I’d love it. Timing isn’t perfect with him I feel, this summer is a summer or two too soon for the move to make the most sense of him coming into our first XI and improving it.

 

[Ace]

A 30-year old Kane for probably £100million is ridiculous, we have to learn from previous. I like Kane as a player and he could have an RVP type impact but RVP cost £25million!

Osimhen is a much better long term proposition.

It's important to remember that RVP was signed over a decade ago now. A 21-year old Hazard, probably the most sought after player in the world at that time went for 30 million to Chelsea. Luka Modric, approaching his prime years, went to Madrid that summer for 30 million as well. It was just a completely different era. I'm less concerned with Kane's transfer fee than I am interested in his contract length and weekly wages.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

I like Vlahovic. He's physically strong, can hold the ball, willing to press, great finisher, has great range of shooting, better technique than Osimhen, which all of these makes him suitable to play in PL under ten Hag system. But his weak foot what put me off little bit because a world class striker out there has always been great with both of their feet because it makes defenders difficult to predict the striker move. Can anyone remind me which striker who has/had poor weak foot?

In term of investment, Vlahovic is a better one than Kane for long term but Kane is currently above him. Vlahovic has yet to be world class striker, while Kane is world class striker and also proven in PL.

 

[Lash]

I like Vlahovic. He's physically strong, can hold the ball, willing to press, great finisher, has great range of shooting, better technique than Osimhen, which all of these makes him suitable to play in PL under ten Hag system. But his weak foot what put me off little bit because a world class striker out there has always been great with both of their feet because it makes defenders difficult to predict the striker move. Can anyone remind me which striker who has/had poor weak foot?

In term of investment, Vlahovic is a better one than Kane for long term but Kane is currently above him. Vlahovic has yet to be world class striker, while Kane is world class striker and also proven in PL.

Is Vlahovic a presser? I was looking at his stats and it doesn't particularly imply he is. Was my only reservation with him as an option.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Is Vlahovic a presser? I was looking at his stats and it doesn't particularly imply he is. Was my only reservation with him as an option.

I think he's about as presser as Kane. May be 7/10 presser. I wouldn't consider him as Tevez or Rooney or Cavani type of presser.

 

[Garethw]

Sesko is nowhere near ready to lead the line for United. He likely never will be either.

It’s far too early to say if he’s going to be good enough for a top club. His goal return in a weak league is incredibly underwhelming. If he’s struggling now, imagine him going up against PL level defenders every week.

Ideally we bring in Kane and Sesko for £100 million combined (I know I’m dreaming) and Sesko is given 2-3 seasons to act as an understudy without the pressure of being the main goal scorer.

 

[Silas]

Sesko is nowhere near ready to lead the line for United. He likely never will be either.

It’s far too early to say if he’s going to be good enough for a top club. His goal return in a weak league is incredibly underwhelming. If he’s struggling now, imagine him going up against PL level defenders every week.

Ideally we bring in Kane and Sesko for £100 million combined (I know I’m dreaming) and Sesko is given 2-3 seasons to act as an understudy without the pressure of being the main goal scorer.

 

[Garethw]

Most young and hyped youngsters turn out to to be not good enough at the elite level. I have seen nothing of Sesko that makes me think he’s going to be a Benzema, Lewandowski or Kane in the future.

 

[Garethw]

If we could pick Sesko up for £30-£40 million as an understudy to a first choice striker then I’d 100% be on board with it. Many on here are talking about bringing him in next season as our starting striker which I think is crazy. It’s 50/50 as to whether he will ever be good enough to fulfill that role.

 

[next_number_seven]

I think ETH likes very technical players based on his signings so far. Is Osmihen technical? I haven't seen enough of him.
He looks more like a Mourinho signing.

 

[croadyman]

If we could pick Sesko up for £30-£40 million as an understudy to a first choice striker then I’d 100% be on board with it. Many on here are talking about bringing him in next season as our starting striker which I think is crazy. It’s 50/50 as to whether he will ever be good enough to fulfill that role.

Yeah that idea I could definitely get on board with

 

[next_number_seven]

I think ETH likes very technical strikers who can drop deep and link play so maybe Goncalo Ramos is most suitable.
I think Osmihen is too similar to Rashford and I'm not sure he's an upgrade.

 

[Bojan Djordjic]

I don't like the idea of Vlahovic at all unless we're getting a fire-sale price. A fair amount of his scoring is via penalties and frees. Kane has been discussed ad-nauseum and while he's clearly a great of the English game, I'm not sure now is the time to be buying his stocks.

The figures quoted for Sesko are just way too high when he's not very prolific. Having said that, he looks like the kind of guy that could explode in a couple of years as he's very skilful and has great physical attributes. But probably worth waiting until that happens before pulling any triggers as there's just no value in buying him early.

I think Osimhen has everything to thrive under EtH and he's someone who's profile would suggest could be dominant in England. His technique is a bit crude but it doesn't in anyway prevent him from getting great shots off and think he could thrive in United's system.

I really hope our scouts are having a good look at the Sudamericano U20 cup this month. Vitor Roque looks like a great talent and I'd love to have a high potential striker in our ranks. Youth recruitment has been fairly underwhelming in that position in recent years.

 

[Ricardo de la Vega]

I like Vlahovic. He's physically strong, can hold the ball, willing to press, great finisher, has great range of shooting, better technique than Osimhen, which all of these makes him suitable to play in PL under ten Hag system. But his weak foot what put me off little bit because a world class striker out there has always been great with both of their feet because it makes defenders difficult to predict the striker move. Can anyone remind me which striker who has/had poor weak foot?

In term of investment, Vlahovic is a better one than Kane for long term but Kane is currently above him. Vlahovic has yet to be world class striker, while Kane is world class striker and also proven in PL.

Dont remember Van Nistelrooy having a very strong weaker foot, and Vlahovic reminds me of him more than anyone else I've seen since I think.

 

[eire-red]

It will be interesting to keep an eye on Ferguson at Brighton for the rest of the season. Serious impact so far, and only 18.

Kane seems to be the perfect fit for ETH. Will probably bring 30 goals, and also create so much for Rashford. Will be a very hard deal to get over the line, but so would Osimhen.

 

[croadyman]

I think ETH likes very technical strikers who can drop deep and link play so maybe Goncalo Ramos is most suitable.
I think Osmihen is too similar to Rashford and I'm not sure he's an upgrade.

Kane is technical isn’t he or is it a case of you don't think he's that obtainable

 

[croadyman]

It will be interesting to keep an eye on Ferguson at Brighton for the rest of the season. Serious impact so far, and only 18.

Kane seems to be the perfect fit for ETH. Will probably bring 30 goals, and also create so much for Rashford. Will be a very hard deal to get over the line, but so would Osimhen.

Ferguson & Kane shows long term thinking

 

[next_number_seven]

Kane is technical isn’t he or is it a case of you don't think he's that obtainable

Kane is very technical. He's suitable also as he drops deep too. That's why ETH likes Martial so much.
Daniel Levy would be mad to sell his best player to a direct rival.
There's 7 teams going for Top 4 now and Spurs have a stadium to pay off, but if Kane is in last year of contract, maybe Levy has no choice.

I always felt with Kane that his form would fall off a cliff like other strikers but now I don't think it'll happen.
He gets very few injuries, looks after himself, isn't reliant on pace. I think it's his intelligence which sets him apart from everyone else.

 

[next_number_seven]

It will be interesting to keep an eye on Ferguson at Brighton for the rest of the season. Serious impact so far, and only 18.

Kane seems to be the perfect fit for ETH. Will probably bring 30 goals, and also create so much for Rashford. Will be a very hard deal to get over the line, but so would Osimhen.

As an Irish person I'd love to sign EF.

Correct me if I'm wrong but we haven't had an Irish player in the first team since John O'Shea. I know we had Gibson but he started few games.

Johnny Evans was NI and I think it was a travesty we sold him. I heard before that Fergie was flabbergasted that we sold him.

I think this is the longest period in our history without an Irish player.

I haven't seen a lot of EF but he seems to be an all rounder with a bit of everything. He has physical attributes like pace, power, strength, aerial ability but also good technically.

Right now is probably the cheapest he will ever be. He's market value is probably 20m already and rising.

Nathan Collins looks good also. Also Gavin Bazuna.

 

[footballbite]

Right now is probably the cheapest he will ever be. He's market value is probably 20m already and rising.

Hahaha, as if Brighton would sell such a top striker prospect for just £20mil!!

They sold Ben White for £50mil to Arsenal and Cucurella for £60mil to Chelsea.

Whoever wants Ferguson will likely have to offer them a record sale price for them - he could potentially have over a decade as a high performing PL CF.

Still, Utd should have their scouts regularly watching all of Evan Ferguson, Goncalo Ramos and Rasmus Hojlund (and also maybe Dion Breljo, Benjamin Sesko and Jhon Duran), and going for whichever appears most likely to be the next Kane/Lewandowski.

There are a number of very good CF prospects out there and Ferguson could well be the pick of the bunch given how well he's performing early days in the PL already. If he does keep these performances up it'd be a shame if Utd did miss out on him because they spent a lot on a stop-gap option instead; especially when it seems Ferguson is a Utd fan (in addition to having that surname). He's the kind of player who if Utd don't go for in the next season or two, you could bet Chelsea will be throwing £80mil at.

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Have Burnley got anyone else?

 

[Tom Van Persie]

 

[Bwuk]

Hahaha, as if Brighton would sell such a top striker prospect for just £20mil!!

They sold Ben White for £50mil to Arsenal and Cucurella for £60mil to Chelsea.

Whoever wants Ferguson will likely have to offer them a record sale price for them - he could potentially have over a decade as a high performing PL CF.

Still, Utd should have their scouts regularly watching all of Evan Ferguson, Goncalo Ramos and Rasmus Hojlund (and also maybe Dion Breljo, Benjamin Sesko and Jhon Duran), and going for whichever appears most likely to be the next Kane/Lewandowski.

There are a number of very good CF prospects out there and Ferguson could well be the pick of the bunch given how well he's performing early days in the PL already. If he does keep these performances up it'd be a shame if Utd did miss out on him because they spent a lot on a stop-gap option instead; especially when it seems Ferguson is a Utd fan (in addition to having that surname). He's the kind of player who if Utd don't go for in the next season or two, you could bet Chelsea will be throwing £80mil at.

Ferguson does look good but it'd be stupid to buy him in January. He's better off playing and seeing how he develops until the Summer.

If Arsenal push N'Ketiah back the bench when Jesus is fit, I'd be enquiring about him in the summer too.

 

[The Purley King]

Hahaha, as if Brighton would sell such a top striker prospect for just £20mil!!

They sold Ben White for £50mil to Arsenal and Cucurella for £60mil to Chelsea.

Whoever wants Ferguson will likely have to offer them a record sale price for them - he could potentially have over a decade as a high performing PL CF.

Still, Utd should have their scouts regularly watching all of Evan Ferguson, Goncalo Ramos and Rasmus Hojlund (and also maybe Dion Breljo, Benjamin Sesko and Jhon Duran), and going for whichever appears most likely to be the next Kane/Lewandowski.

There are a number of very good CF prospects out there and Ferguson could well be the pick of the bunch given how well he's performing early days in the PL already. If he does keep these performances up it'd be a shame if Utd did miss out on him because they spent a lot on a stop-gap option instead; especially when it seems Ferguson is a Utd fan (in addition to having that surname). He's the kind of player who if Utd don't go for in the next season or two, you could bet Chelsea will be throwing £80mil at.

If he continues as well as he’s done recently for the remainder of the season I can see someone stumping up £50m or so for him. Overpriced but that is the way of things at the moment.
from the little I’ve seen he looks hugely impressive, the big question mark is whether he’s ready to lead the line for a club with title aspirations.
Almost certainly not yet but would we take an expensive punt?

 

[andersj]

Benjamin Sesko, Evan Ferguson, Rasmus Højlund and Goncalo Ramos. There is quite a few young, interesting center forwards (probably) available if we dont want to go down the route of Kans/Oshimen.

Vlahovic could be an option too.

 

[DownRiver]

Mitrovic. We need this type of striker, he will bully any back line and will get goals.

 

[croadyman]

Genuinely this could become Sesko and Thuram/Dembele on a free when you look what Plettenberg said about Osimhen price

 

[NoPace]

Genuinely this could become Sesko and Thuram/Dembele on a free when you look what Plettenberg said about Osimhen price

If we sign Sesko, I think there's a case to be made that we should just sell Martial for 15M or whatever and buy Morata for like 35M to bridge the gap for 2 years as a starter. He'd be decent in our system and he gets hurt less. Only one year left on his deal.

 

[NoPace]

I think we want Sesko long term. Have felt that for a while, the moves seem to go far back with that one.

I’m conflicted on all the options, and can see pros and cons in all. I really like the idea of Sesko, but as I said in the OP - I feel he’s undercooked now. Wouldn’t mind getting the Benz on a free and also signing Sesko, and then sending him on loan somewhere to play weekly.

I’ve seen reports linking us with Kudus too this week, and I’d be happy us to sign a 9 plus Kudus. He can compete for the 10 position, and is also a proper option as a false 9 too.

I like that Kudus idea if we sign a more defensive minded midfielder and sign Sesko, though it's putting a lot on Eriksen still:

Centrally, we'd have:

Martial/Sesko/Kudus
Bruno/Kudus/Eriksen
Eriksen/Fred/#6
Casemiro/#6

it looks pretty good if you plug say Caicedo, Rice, Zubimendi, Brozovic, Lavia or Locatelli in there, i.e someone who can cover Casemiro but also start next to him because he can pass

So a summer of say:

Out - Maguire, McTominay, Wan-Bissaka, Pellistri, De Gea
In - Sesko, Kudus, DM/CM, Frimpong, RCB, Sanchez

and Amad probably goes on loan one more year if Sancho stays.

6 players seems like a lot to bring in though, even if we get say 85M for the 4 players and save big on De Gea and Maguire wages. That covers Sesko and Frimpong, though, so the only new money is Kudus, the expensive DM/CM, a young center back and then the keeper. That looks like about 180M still, seems like too much. But the squad is quite good at that point, and any single injury no longer terrifies us as long as the RCB is decent.

But yeah, Kudus can turn and play and drop deep and that would fit with Rashford, though continue to put the goalscoring burden squarely on him. But we'd play decent stuff I think with Kudus up top. And Bruno could get more rest, though he can probably can anyways if we sign a proper DM/CM and Eriksen can start more games and come off the bench at #10 more.

 

[croadyman]

I like that Kudus idea if we sign a more defensive minded midfielder and sign Sesko, though it's putting a lot on Eriksen still:

Centrally, we'd have:

Martial/Sesko/Kudus
Bruno/Kudus/Eriksen
Eriksen/Fred/#6
Casemiro/#6

it looks pretty good if you plug say Caicedo, Rice, Zubimendi, Brozovic, Lavia or Locatelli in there, i.e someone who can cover Casemiro but also start next to him because he can pass

So a summer of say:

Out - Maguire, McTominay, Wan-Bissaka, Pellistri, De Gea
In - Sesko, Kudus, DM/CM, Frimpong, RCB, Sanchez

and Amad probably goes on loan one more year if Sancho stays.

6 players seems like a lot to bring in though, even if we get say 85M for the 4 players and save big on De Gea and Maguire wages. That covers Sesko and Frimpong, though, so the only new money is Kudus, the expensive DM/CM, a young center back and then the keeper. That looks like about 180M still, seems like too much. But the squad is quite good at that point, and any single injury no longer terrifies us as long as the RCB is decent.

But yeah, Kudus can turn and play and drop deep and that would fit with Rashford, though continue to put the goalscoring burden squarely on him. But we'd play decent stuff I think with Kudus up top. And Bruno could get more rest, though he can probably can anyways if we sign a proper DM/CM and Eriksen can start more games and come off the bench at #10 more.

We need to try and sign 5 this summer (first XI and depth) then it only leaves us 2/3 for the next part of rebuild in winter 2023/summer 2024.

 

[NoPace]

We need to try and sign 5 this summer (first XI and depth) then it only leaves us 2/3 for the next part of rebuild in winter 2023/summer 2024.

I see the squad like this:

#9, Martial
Antony, Sancho, Amad
Rashford, Garnacho
Bruno, Eriksen
#8, Fred
Casemiro, #6
Dalot, RB
Varane, RCB
Lisandro, Lindelof
Shaw, Malacia
GK, GK

so that's 7 new players, though the same player could cover #6 and #8 since Eriksen is around and 1 of Sancho or Amad can probably figure as a #10 in games where we need to create more than have perfect balance. If you do that and consider backup GK to be solvable via a free or cheap transfer with a passing GK who isn't great otherwise, like Sommer would have been.

Kane
De Jong/Enzo/Caicedo/Rice
Frimpong/Malo - Need some pace on Antony or Amad's wing as they're both good short passers and at linking up.
Young RCB with some height - No idea, lots of Frenchmen around
Sanchez - Stats don't love him but whenever I watch him he seems to have the passing and presence Ten Hag would want

is what I'd hope for this summer, though it feels like that's more than we're going to spend, so probably sub a cheaper keeper in for Sanchez and lord knows at forward.

 

[croadyman]

I see the squad like this:

#9, Martial
Antony, Sancho, Amad
Rashford, Garnacho
Bruno, Eriksen
#8, Fred
Casemiro, #6
Dalot, RB
Varane, RCB
Lisandro, Lindelof
Shaw, Malacia
GK, GK

so that's 7 new players, though the same player could cover #6 and #8 since Eriksen is around and 1 of Sancho or Amad can probably figure as a #10 in games where we need to create more than have perfect balance. If you do that and consider backup GK to be solvable via a free or cheap transfer with a passing GK who isn't great otherwise, like Sommer would have been.

Kane
De Jong/Enzo/Caicedo/Rice
Frimpong/Malo - Need some pace on Antony or Amad's wing as they're both good short passers and at linking up.
Young RCB with some height - No idea, lots of Frenchmen around
Sanchez - Stats don't love him but whenever I watch him he seems to have the passing and presence Ten Hag would want

is what I'd hope for this summer, though it feels like that's more than we're going to spend, so probably sub a cheaper keeper in for Sanchez and lord knows at forward.

Would change second GK for either backup ST on free (Thuram/Dembele), or backup AM on free (Tielemans) and sell Martial because just can't be relied upon now.

 

[Godfather]

Sesko isn't there yet. If we buy him then to loan him out. Nowhere near first 11 quality yet.

 

[Hansi Fick]

Benjamin Sesko, Evan Ferguson, Rasmus Højlund and Goncalo Ramos. There is quite a few young, interesting center forwards (probably) available if we dont want to go down the route of Kans/Oshimen.

Vlahovic could be an option too.

For the umpteenth time, Sesko isn't available. He was just sold. He is just about to move to a new club. He isn't on the market.

 

[SparkedIntoLife]

Osimhen's the one, I suspect, but I can't see Napoli doing a deal. I watched the Sky documentary out last week called Deadline Day and they were ruthless over Fabian Ruiz who wanted to leave and only had a year left on his contract. The president apparently disappeared for days on his boat when he was supposed to rubberstamp the deal and, at one point, he sent a message to his agents asking them to call him. They called straight away and was told he's going to bed so won't speak to them Tottenham may be a similar story with Kane and I worry about his mobility in the coming years. Therefore, I can see us opting for Sesko for a ridiculous fee, based really only on potential (and don't get me wrong, I think he has enormous potential but is about 3 years off from really showing it).

 

[croadyman]

Osimhen's the one, I suspect, but I can't see Napoli doing a deal. I watched the Sky documentary out last week called Deadline Day and they were ruthless over Fabian Ruiz who wanted to leave and only had a year left on his contract. The president apparently disappeared for days on his boat when he was supposed to rubberstamp the deal and, at one point, he sent a message to his agents asking them to call him. They called straight away and was told he's going to bed so won't speak to them Tottenham may be a similar story with Kane and I worry about his mobility in the coming years. Therefore, I can see us opting for Sesko for a ridiculous fee, based really only on potential (and don't get me wrong, I think he has enormous potential but is about 3 years off from really showing it).

Yeah I watched that too and it reminded me just how interested we were in that Kaladjzic only for Wolves to sign him and then suffer season ending injury on debut. Oh and Dubravka talking about new chapter but that didn't work out well for him

 

[croadyman]

For the umpteenth time, Sesko isn't available. He was just sold. He is just about to move to a new club. He isn't on the market.

Yeah replace him with Vlahovic on list

 

[sullydnl]

For the umpteenth time, Sesko isn't available. He was just sold. He is just about to move to a new club. He isn't on the market.

The suggestion is that Leipzig may be willing to sell him on again for a sufficiently increased fee, with the transfer between the RB clubs then effectively being a way of dividing profit from Sekso's ultimate sale.

Obviously that sounds highly dubious, but that's why he's still being mentioned as an option.

 

[sullydnl]

When we talk about the lack of options it's worth bearing in mind how little Casemiro would have been on our (as in this forum's) radar as a possible option for DM this time last year.

We might end up with someone we hadn't anticipated by the time summer is done.

 

[Giggsy13]

I find it odd that we keep being linked to Sesko when he’s set to move to RB Leipzig next season. Osimhen should be the primary target.