The centre-forward market...

Raoul said:
This is my thought as well. Can't see us passing on Kane if he's there for the taking.
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He has his strengths, no doubt about that, but in departments where less needed I think, given the way forward is supposed to be more build-up and possession, and less counters and less Antony tries on his own and fails. A clinical finisher who offers deep runs and some holding the ball qualities can be found in an age group that promises increase in value just as well. Kane to me only promises decrease. Also, I doubt he'll come here with the same hunger he'd have had couple of years ago. I'd give the role to a Ramos, Osimhen, Muani, and avoid playing with a false nine Kane, but then that's perhaps just me. Prove me wrong, Harry!
 
UNITED ACADEMY said:
Because I based it on what someone else's opinion who has watched him and I checked the player's fbref.
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Interesting.

How do you judge that person’s football knowledge?

Do stats take into consideration how the player’s team plays, how the opposition plays and how strong the league he plays in is?
 
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I thought we were going to go Osimhen but I have a feeling he may go to Bayern or PSG now.

Kane seems to be the option then next year see how Ramos or Hojlund have developed when Martials contract expires as unfortunately he aint going anywhere on his wages and doubt we can afford another back up striker (apart from Thuram if we can ship martial on loan)
 
top1whoisman said:
Interesting.

How do you judge that person’s football knowledge?

Do stats take into consideration how the player’s team plays, how the opposition plays and how strong the league he plays in is?
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It’s not judging. When you have limited primary information and primary resources, you should listen and do your own research from secondary resources.

Yes stats take into consideration on those but also take into consideration to compare the player with others. I compare Hojlund’s fbref to Osimhen and Vlahovic, I can understand why someone said he has the technical attribute.
 
Lautaro was clearly hurt during the WC and he looks clever and strong in hold up play whenever I see him. Scores goals at a good rate (was just under 1 in 2 in Serie A aged 22-23, now just over 1 in 2 aged 24-25 seasons).

Is that a plausible move at all? I'm assuming Inter won't sell with Lukaku not being owned by them and Dzeko being 37 and them playing 2 up top (and if they're buying Buchanan the Canadian as rumoured, that has to be as a wingback even though he's not great defensively, because he doesn't score enough goals to be a winger but could mature into a fine wingback if they teach him to defend in Italy, he can really carry the ball).

If Kane and Osimhen can't be signed, then he seems like the safest bet and I think he'd do well with Rashford in a quasi-front 2, and combine well with Bruno as he seems to with Barella.
 
DownRiver said:
We will sign Kane, most likely by the end of July. Kane will hand in a transfer request and Levy will let him go for around 60m as he has less that an a year left. Ten Haag spent 70m on a 30 year old Casimero. He is not afraid of spending big money for older players .
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I wonder if we could get Kane for say 40M and Sancho. They're probably better off bringing in an LW and a #10 (Maddison for instance) and letting Richarlison and Son play as strikers and just going to 4 at the back. Get Romero a partner. They take a step back, but add 23 and 26 year old English creators to actually link play between their deep mids and their goalscorers. Be a normal team again.
 
NoPace said:
Lautaro was clearly hurt during the WC and he looks clever and strong in hold up play whenever I see him. Scores goals at a good rate (was just under 1 in 2 in Serie A aged 22-23, now just over 1 in 2 aged 24-25 seasons).

Is that a plausible move at all? I'm assuming Inter won't sell with Lukaku not being owned by them and Dzeko being 37 and them playing 2 up top (and if they're buying Buchanan the Canadian as rumoured, that has to be as a wingback even though he's not great defensively, because he doesn't score enough goals to be a winger but could mature into a fine wingback if they teach him to defend in Italy, he can really carry the ball).

If Kane and Osimhen can't be signed, then he seems like the safest bet and I think he'd do well with Rashford in a quasi-front 2, and combine well with Bruno as he seems to with Barella.
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even better we could go for both of Laturo and Barella
 
If we are priced out of a move for Kane and Osimhen then I think we should just get a cheap striker like Thuram or Roque and spend the striker money on Caicedo
 
I’m thinking the sensible thing to do in the summer is signing a young(ish) competitor/replacement for Martial.
Martials contract is in its last year next season so hopefully that spurs a fire in him to deliver and stay fit - on his day he is a good striker, so hopefully the expiring contract forces him to not hide and sulk when he gets a competitor but rather provide us with two good options up front.

Splashing 100m on a 30 year old Kane is kind of crazy when we have that many needs in the squad and FFP to comply with, but If needed we can go for Kane on a free transfer next summer.
Next summer we will be able to either sell/release Martial depending on how he performs the coming season.

I’m starting to think that Goncalo Ramos is the best option this summer. A very good striker, proven goalscorer, the right age, more affordable than Kane/Osimhen, and also offers a sort of versatility as he’s been playing in the second striker/AM role which makes me think he can also partner up with for example Kane for three or four seasons from the 24/25-season.
 
World class strikers from the 87 generation alone : Suarez,Benzema,Cavani,Higuain
World class strikers born between 90 and 99 : Kane

This is what you call a weak era for strikers. It's no wonder it's so hard to find a proper one.
 
Gift Orban is one to watch, the lads record since coming to the continent is amazingly impressive.

 
Lash said:
Gift Orban is one to watch, the lads record since coming to the continent is amazingly impressive.

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This is the profile of striker I thik we should be looking for, a couple of them in fact. The only world class striker for me that is proven is Kane. For me where we are at as a club in comparison to title challenging, what we need in the summer, the players age, the possibility he has peaked etc etc etc, I dont thik we are at the stage in progression of curret stading competing wise where he makes sese like when we siged Van Persie and I also dont thik he is at hte stage of his career, that coming here guarantees medals that he would like to move for. Omishen looks really good but £100m good, I dont see it. Seen very little of Hoijlund another name linked, but what I have seen again looks overpriced. As others have stated, there are ot that may really good strikers around at the right age and there is a premium, we need to discover someone with huge talet and ability that can come into the side and shine, a gamble of course, but making two such signing give us twice the chance. We havent made any such type of signing sicne Martial, been all stop gaps, its crazy really, how many big sides have not signed an exciting younger striker in as long as us?
 
jesperjaap said:
This is the profile of striker I thik we should be looking for, a couple of them in fact. The only world class striker for me that is proven is Kane. For me where we are at as a club in comparison to title challenging, what we need in the summer, the players age, the possibility he has peaked etc etc etc, I dont thik we are at the stage in progression of curret stading competing wise where he makes sese like when we siged Van Persie and I also dont thik he is at hte stage of his career, that coming here guarantees medals that he would like to move for. Omishen looks really good but £100m good, I dont see it. Seen very little of Hoijlund another name linked, but what I have seen again looks overpriced. As others have stated, there are ot that may really good strikers around at the right age and there is a premium, we need to discover someone with huge talet and ability that can come into the side and shine, a gamble of course, but making two such signing give us twice the chance. We havent made any such type of signing sicne Martial, been all stop gaps, its crazy really, how many big sides have not signed an exciting younger striker in as long as us?
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We've certainly got the scouting network for it too. We should be able to look at profiles of players not from top leagues and take a chance on an up and coming talent.

Also if it doesn't work out, we'd probably be able to sign Kane on a free next summer anyway. Win win.
 
Lash said:
We've certainly got the scouting network for it too. We should be able to look at profiles of players not from top leagues and take a chance on an up and coming talent.

Also if it doesn't work out, we'd probably be able to sign Kane on a free next summer anyway. Win win.
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Yes I wonder if its the scouting network failing or the club failing to listen to them either at management or executive level as even the last 3/4years Haaland, Enzo Fernandez, Caicedo all seem to have been linked to some degree and scouting and a lot of other names too...when you look at some of what we have passed up on and some of the sigings we have made, some major fails been made, cat get it right all the time, but boy we have got it wronga lot in recent years
 
We need to get an answer on Kane early as possible in the window,so have got time to still get Kolo-Muani/Ramos/Hojlund. I suspect we will also be keeping tabs on Ferguson too.
 
If we're priced out of Osimhen/Kane, maybe someone like Daka or even Iheanacho at Leicester in addition to one of the new gen superstars like Vitor Roque. Then at least we'll have decent back up options until the prospect becomes good and we can afford to invest elsewhere as we won't have spent €100 plus million on a striker.
 
A bit surprising there hasn't really been any links with Thuram considering he's free in the summer. Wouldn't want him as our main striker but even as a backup/rotation option to Kane he would be a good option. Heard good things about Orban before. Found it hard to actually watch the Belgian league despite trying numerous times. Don't know if they're more strict with rivers or what the reason is.
 
jesperjaap said:
Yes I wonder if its the scouting network failing or the club failing to listen to them either at management or executive level as even the last 3/4years Haaland, Enzo Fernandez, Caicedo all seem to have been linked to some degree and scouting and a lot of other names too...when you look at some of what we have passed up on and some of the sigings we have made, some major fails been made, cat get it right all the time, but boy we have got it wronga lot in recent years
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I think it has to do with our management having the same mindset as many of our supporters that you read on here every day: So many are obsessed with "PL experience" or showing top level performances in a big league or a top team before even considering them. We see someone like Caicedo and balk at him and allow Brighton to snap him up because "he's not ready for United" and then salivate over paying 10x the price for him a couple of years later. It's terrible business practice if you aren't already an elite team because it puts a load of pressure on making sure every one of these "big money" signings is a nailed on success. I've said it before but I'd much prefer we took the route of buying these obvious huge young talents before they make the leap to a better known club, even if it's an "expensive" fee at the time. People wonder how Madrid manage to just reload their squad but they are the best in the world at this. They understand that it's better to buy a top youngster before he's truly "ready" and allow him the time to integrate and develop in the squad instead of having someone like Camavinga go off to another big club and then buy him in 3 years for 100m and hope the pressure isn't overwhelming.

Amad is a good example. We paid a big fee at the time for him as he was very highly rated at Atalanta, but even without him having huge first team success here (yet) we could probably sell him and recoup all of the fee and more, or have a potential top talent reintegrate and help us next year.
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
I see 0 world in which Levy gives him to us for 60m though no matter how much people want him to.
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Levy would have little leverage to hold out for a world beater fee given that Kane is 30, his contract expires next summer, as of now he has not knocked in 30 goals in a year over the past two seasons, and would actually put in a transfer request. If all four are true this summer then Levy will be in a tough negotiating spot.
 
Bojan Djordjic said:
If we're priced out of Osimhen/Kane, maybe someone like Daka or even Iheanacho at Leicester in addition to one of the new gen superstars like Vitor Roque. Then at least we'll have decent back up options until the prospect becomes good and we can afford to invest elsewhere as we won't have spent €100 plus million on a striker.
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We will bot, and should not, be signing two strikers unless we are able to replace Martial. Will more likely be one this summer and one next. 3 senior strikers is pointless.
 
Lash said:
Gift Orban is one to watch, the lads record since coming to the continent is amazingly impressive.

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This is the sort of signing that would be really good if we made a play to get Harry Kane on a free instead of bending over for Levy and Spurs and spunking ridiculous money up the wall which is not something a well run club would do when you can try and grease a few palms and persuade him to come next year. If we are prepared to blow huge money on Osimhen then fair enough, but Harry Kane for 100 million is a joke in the situation.

If he proves good, he stays. If he looks unpolished, loan him out next year.

It's a bit risky because it would be another season where there is no proven striker and too much reliance on the crock that is Martial, but I think if we address the rest of the squad we'd be a far better football team than we are this year so there would still be significant improvement. This guy will be far better than Weghorst too. By default.
 
Can't United do something like 60 + Martial for Kane? Spurs could use him as a forward option and United have Rashford and Garnacho there. Plus it would help with FFP balance.

Concerning a backup striker, I don't know why Flamengo's Pedro isn't being considered in top clubs right now. 25 years old, practically 1 goal a game in a difficult league, it could be a nice combo with NT mate Antony plus a good backup striker to Kane. Probably wouldn't be very expensive either.
 
Raoul said:
Levy would have little leverage to hold out for a world beater fee given that Kane is 30, his contract expires next summer, as of now he has not knocked in 30 goals in a year over the past two seasons, and would actually put in a transfer request. If all four are true this summer then Levy will be in a tough negotiating spot.
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I agree with everything you said. But I also don’t think it matters. I think he’d rather play hardball than sell his best player for anything less than a monster fee.

We’ll see though, because Kane for 60m is way more attractive to me than Kane for 100m
 
Abraxas said:
This is the sort of signing that would be really good if we made a play to get Harry Kane on a free instead of bending over for Levy and Spurs and spunking ridiculous money up the wall which is not something a well run club would do when you can try and grease a few palms and persuade him to come next year. If we are prepared to blow huge money on Osimhen then fair enough, but Harry Kane for 100 million is a joke in the situation.

If he proves good, he stays. If he looks unpolished, loan him out next year.

It's a bit risky because it would be another season where there is no proven striker and too much reliance on the crock that is Martial, but I think if we address the rest of the squad we'd be a far better football team than we are this year so there would still be significant improvement. This guy will be far better than Weghorst too. By default.
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That's my thinking too. It doesn't have to be Orban, but someone with potential and the raw attributes we need. As you say, by default they'll be better than Weghorst. It could save us a tonne of money and have us covered for far longer or we potentially waste a year trying out someone we could move on for a decent fee if not.

It is risky, but it's just as risky to spend 100m on someone like Kane or Osimhen and we're still 1-2 players away from challenging properly.
 
Dazzmondo said:
A bit surprising there hasn't really been any links with Thuram considering he's free in the summer. Wouldn't want him as our main striker but even as a backup/rotation option to Kane he would be a good option. Heard good things about Orban before. Found it hard to actually watch the Belgian league despite trying numerous times. Don't know if they're more strict with rivers or what the reason is.
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Yeah think he was loosely linked to Chelsea & Newcastle but nothing with us. Totally don't understand it when like you say he's a free agent in summer. Seems like an absolute no brainer for anyone looking at backup ST
 
Abraham looking clumsy on the ball and off so far in the Leverkusen semi-final
 
Lash said:
Gift Orban is one to watch, the lads record since coming to the continent is amazingly impressive.

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He's obviously scoring for fun at the moment, but he's very very rough. He shoots at every opportunity and scores screamers, but his build-up play is terrible for now.

He's arrived in Belgium in January, scored a couple of goals and couldn't mention fast enough to leave for a bigger competition. Always sulking when he's on the bench or replaced.

Good goalscorer, not quite the best feet, and (right now) not the right mentality I'd say.
 
I'm still saying Hojlund for the cheaper option, very similar to Kane, he just isn't as accomplished or banging in as many goals as Kane yet, but his physicals like speed are better and he's 10 years younger. Got all the attributes, he's just a riskier option.
 
I have watched a few games with Gift Orban and have also earlier this year suggested him here.

In stead of spending all our budget on a Kane or Osimhen I would rather that we look at some of these young talents. For the same amount or less than what we would spend on Kane and Osimhen we could and should be able to get Gift Orban, Muhamed Kudus and Rasmus Højlund. This would give us 3 young talents that all can play and fight for the striker position, all very different from each other and have their own strengths, meaning we would be able to change tactic easily and also those 3 would provide backup on other areas as well, with Orban and Højlund as backup on the wings and Kudus as a backup as AM...
 
Onerealunited said:
I have watched a few games with Gift Orban and have also earlier this year suggested him here.

In stead of spending all our budget on a Kane or Osimhen I would rather that we look at some of these young talents. For the same amount or less than what we would spend on Kane and Osimhen we could and should be able to get Gift Orban, Muhamed Kudus and Rasmus Højlund. This would give us 3 young talents that all can play and fight for the striker position, all very different from each other and have their own strengths, meaning we would be able to change tactic easily and also those 3 would provide backup on other areas as well, with Orban and Højlund as backup on the wings and Kudus as a backup as AM...
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Nah apparently there are only like 2 worthy talents in the world that can play CF for us so no point in actually scouting around. Just wait 3 or so years until people are bitching about how we didn't sign any of them when we had the chance and they now cost over 100 million.
 
Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber said:
For me we really should not pass up getting Marcús Thuram on a free transfer. Then we can add a big from the trio of Osimhen, Kane or Ramos.
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Yeah that should be no brainer,people like him and Rabiot should be in addition to starter ST and CM rather than being our only signings in those positions as I fear may happen
 
L1nk said:
I'm still saying Hojlund for the cheaper option, very similar to Kane, he just isn't as accomplished or banging in as many goals as Kane yet, but his physicals like speed are better and he's 10 years younger. Got all the attributes, he's just a riskier option.
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He would be my choice if we can't get Kane,absolutely convinced Osimhen may not move due to the huge price tag.
 
onemanarmy said:
He's obviously scoring for fun at the moment, but he's very very rough. He shoots at every opportunity and scores screamers, but his build-up play is terrible for now.

He's arrived in Belgium in January, scored a couple of goals and couldn't mention fast enough to leave for a bigger competition. Always sulking when he's on the bench or replaced.

Good goalscorer, not quite the best feet, and (right now) not the right mentality I'd say.
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Thanks for a bit more context. I don't follow the Belgian league too closely, it's mainly his European games I've caught highlights of.

That's disappointing on the attitude front. I certainly wouldn't suggest someone like him should be our only striker signing, but it would be nice to take a punt on someone as depth, with real potential.
 
We are still getting reports of our interest in Benjamin Sesko, so wouldn't surprise me if we try pay Leipzig a premium on their fee to get him. Since it's unlikely we can sell Martial in the upcoming window, we might as well keep him, buy Sesko or another young striker (Holjund, Giminez, Ferguson etc) and get a more experienced striker (not Weghorst) as a 3rd option/backup. Levy won't sell Kane to us unless he gets 100m+, it makes no sense to pay that for a player who's about to turn 30 and will command huge wages. So we call his bluff and wait to get Kane on a free transfer the following season. Then release Martial and let go of the loan striker. Then 24/25 season, we have Kane and Sesko/young no 9 as our strikers, with Sesko to take over once Kane hits a wall in his 30s.
 
onemanarmy said:
He's obviously scoring for fun at the moment, but he's very very rough. He shoots at every opportunity and scores screamers, but his build-up play is terrible for now.

He's arrived in Belgium in January, scored a couple of goals and couldn't mention fast enough to leave for a bigger competition. Always sulking when he's on the bench or replaced.

Good goalscorer, not quite the best feet, and (right now) not the right mentality I'd say.
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I’d love a striker that’s sulks if he isn’t playing, that means he’s angry he’s not on the pitch with the chance to score goals, you look at martial and the likes and there not bothered if they are bench and not scoring.
 
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