I'd be amazed if United signed a peak age striker for big money this summer. I think we'll get someone in to help ease the burden on Hojlund, but we'll be looking at freebies. Jonathan David would be my pick. Failing that, I think United will look seriously at Calvert-Lewin.
Victor Gyökeres
- Thread starter Berbaclass
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I'd be amazed if United signed a peak age striker for big money this summer. I think we'll get someone in to help ease the burden on Hojlund, but we'll be looking at freebies. Jonathan David would be my pick. Failing that, I think United will look seriously at Calvert-Lewin.
I think we will definitely sign a proper striker, and it will be a priority. I think itl take a lot of pull and come out of nowhere like Yoro.
If we win the Europa Cup there's actually not a difficult pitch to make.
Calvert-Lewin...good shout. Should be nice and cheap given he's Everton's perennially injured backup striker.
Generally our build up and patterns of play have been decent and you could see our no. 10s and wing backs making great cut back passes that are unfortunately not being met by Hojlund or Zirkzee due to their poor positioning. Gyokeres fits the bill imo and we should go all out to sign him this summer given the options are so limited. We need a striker who actually has decent positional awareness and instincts.
I’m not particularly mad at us not getting Gyokeres tbh. He seems maybe the best attainable striker right now, but he still doesn’t strike me as a special talent per se. I wouldn’t mind if we got him, but I also don’t mind just catching the next bus instead here.
The talk of a younger striker is interesting, because I do feel that Sesko is the most talented striker available this summer, albeit with developing to do. But he’s a bigger talent than Gyokeres for me and despite us already having young strikers, I’d be haply to sign him.
The talk of a younger striker is interesting, because I do feel that Sesko is the most talented striker available this summer, albeit with developing to do. But he’s a bigger talent than Gyokeres for me and despite us already having young strikers, I’d be haply to sign him.
Vardy represents better value for money I'm sure
I’b surprised if either Gyokeres or Osimhen were eager to join us at this stage of their careers. Pitching to 26/27 year olds that we want to try and win the league in 3 years time and just need two years of cost cutting to sort out finances out isn’t very appealing.
We are more likely to get a cheap/free stop gap or another expensive younger player.
We are more likely to get a cheap/free stop gap or another expensive younger player.
What burden on Hojlund, he has scored 2 goal the entire season. Should be the first name out of the fecking door in the summer whether permanently or on loan.
Burden in the sense that he's the only #9 in the current squad. His confidence is shot and it doesn't look like he's capable of playing his way into form, so we'll need someone who can take his place on a regular basis next season (I don't think he's going anywhere).
This is why i've just been laughing at everyone in here dreaming about Gyokeres. Unless we win the Europa League, we don't have a snowball's chance in hell of signing him.
I will not discuss Hojlund in this thread because I already did multiple times in his thread. But even if I buy your logic, he need to regain his confidence and form away from old Trafford.
Pffft! who needs goals anyway!
We’ve already got about 12 of them.
We’ve already got about 12 of them.
On the subs bench is more likely, I think, with a cheap (free?) #9 leading the line in his place, at least on a semi-regular basis.
Annoyingly will end up at Arsenal
Amorin wants running in behind - why isn't Hojlund doing that? I'm sure he would be capable, but he seems to come deep and try and hold it up every game.
I hope not! DCL is injury prone and not prolific. We have enough those already
United are between a rock and a hard place in respect of new signings. It’s hard to attract players in their prime to come to the club because essentially these players will have to sacrifice their prime in the hope of success in 3 or 4 years time.
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I really thought it was a joke. How can anyone come to that conclusion. I give up.
Rubbish data in = rubbish conclusions.
Hate this SPINEOS rubbish, after the end of the window they said we going big on striker. Now we getting stories like this. Pathetic!
Historically, successful United teams always bought top class strikers regardless of age. 27 is peak age we would get min 5 years out of him as long he stays fit.
The data shows Hojlund is doing that a lot in every game, the report in the Athletic specifically points out his movement and positioning is extremely similar to Gyokeres at Sporting. Our issue in games right now is we are not looking for him when he makes those runs and so inevitably he gets frustrated and drops deeper. Amorim as much as said that after the Europa game, that Hojlund is frustrated and maybe the team is not doing enough to help him but he has to not let it affect him because the chance could come in the next minute. Reminds me a bit of Lineker saying that for a striker, if you score a tap in in the 89th minute everyone will say you did nothing and got lucky but they forget the 40 or 50 runs you made when you didn't get the ball.
We don't have any money. Peak age strikers are often the most expensive players to buy. What are we going offer their clubs? Peak age strikers are also a scarce and highly sought after asset in 2025 - how do we persuade these players to join when they will have better prospects elsewhere?
United cannot outspend their rivals so they will have to outsmart them with clever, low cost deals, taking risks on younger players or leveraging contract situations.
I don't think we will under INEOS unless Amorim really pushes for him. We don't need a big money CF signing and checks all the wrong boxes (age, price, wages)
Ratcliffe has been pretty clear about this -- there's a place for the expensive superstar signing but that's when you're already consistently in the CL and doing well and you're just looking to add that final touch.
Replacing Martinelli or Havertz with two really top level attackers for Arsenal for example is a good situation.
I’d say it’s the correct way forward to not go for a pricy 27yo. (not necessarily agreeing re the Hojlund-bit though)
Any player that we spend big on must be below 25 imo if we’re to get out of the mess that we’re in.
Gyokeres was never going to be attainable for us - he’s in the prime of his career of course he’s going to want to go to a team competing for trophies. Arsenal will go all out for him.
I think people over exaggerated the Amorim factor - he played for him just over 12 months it’s not like they have a long-standing relationship.
I think people over exaggerated the Amorim factor - he played for him just over 12 months it’s not like they have a long-standing relationship.
Sorry but that's nonsense, Gyokeres constantly takes the ball and runs at the defence to get a shot off that's the difference. Hojlund might make a few runs in behind during a game but he expects the perfect ball and it's why he averages about a shot a game. If you want data go look at their progressive carries, touches in box, take-ons.
Totally understandable from Gyokeres pov.
We barely look like we can get consistent EL football let alone CL.
Personally I would go longterm and bring in Delap.
We barely look like we can get consistent EL football let alone CL.
Personally I would go longterm and bring in Delap.
Mm
Makes sense really. We haven't got that pulling power anymore. Top players will want to play for top clubs, Champions league etc.
Makes sense really. We haven't got that pulling power anymore. Top players will want to play for top clubs, Champions league etc.
Yet we paid 75m for an unproven 21 year old striker
Haven’t we tried this with Hojlund. Delap will have the same season
Delap's alot better than Hojlund, lets be honest.
We are talking specifically about balls in behind though. Hojlund makes those runs and we just don't seem to play the ball right now, perhaps because we are still not proficient in the system. Hojlund then becomes frustrated and stops making the runs and that is a matter of experience and maturity, the pass may not come the first 20 or 30 times you make the run but it does not matter, if you are a number 9 your job is to keep doing it. Amorim discussed this around about the 3 minute mark in his post match conference recently and that was pretty much the message he was giving to Hojlund, we might not be doing a good job of finding him when he makes the runs but he cannot allow it to affect him, he has to keep going and trust the pass will eventually come.
That's even more depressing now you have expanded on it
.If Jim really cares about us, he should push glazers to sell to someone who will spend and clear the debt.
Surely you can see there's been considerable change at the club since that deal.
I agree in that I dont think you need to have a marquee signing. Just a proper striker. They exist and we have scouts apparently!
Yeah some consistent links to Delap. Might be someone like that esp if Ipswich are relegated. But I question if a striker should be the highest priority too. My priority honestly is to fix the midfield issue once and for all and let's stop talking about what if Mainoo is a #10 or Ugarte is too limited or whatever. It's two players in the middle, we need to get that sorted.
I'd also get the player Amorim wants at #10 unless Garnacho manages to make the left #10 position his.
Then we can look at strikers or wing backs or whatever.
We were never buying him anyway. Our financial reality is really not sinking in for our fanbase. We’ll need to sell to buy, but even when we do, we’ll invest in cheaper younger players to cover multiple positions and lower the risk of unsuccessful transfers leading to huge losses. Some will go into the first team like Dorgu, some into the academy.
What I expect to happen in the summer is that we shift a few of our high earners, sell one of Mainoo or Garnacho, and generate enough money to pay off what we owe already on previous transfers and is payable this year, and maybe buy 3-4 players ranging in price from 10-35m each. A couple of academy players will start training with the first team and with a full preseason will be part of the squad next season.
What I expect to happen in the summer is that we shift a few of our high earners, sell one of Mainoo or Garnacho, and generate enough money to pay off what we owe already on previous transfers and is payable this year, and maybe buy 3-4 players ranging in price from 10-35m each. A couple of academy players will start training with the first team and with a full preseason will be part of the squad next season.
Striker is definitely a big position to fix because Hojlund has been utterly dogshite. That's not taking away from other positions but it's up there as one of the most important problem areas for us.
The midfield isn't that big of an issue. By a very large distance the striker is the biggest issue, and the extent of how bad it is is the reason other parts of the team start failing. Your team has 0 chance of building confidence if you have nobody to score your goals reliably. Results won't come and good work that you do won't be noticed. Opposition defenders can push up comfortably knowing nobody is scaring them from our attack, and our midfield has no options to pass it into (or when they do, the attackers just lose it).
Honestly ignoring the striker position is madness, it is so far and away the weakest position we have and it's negatively impacting everything else. No manager has a chance at survival here without getting a top half PL level CF (that also fits his system). Hojlund isn't PL level, and Zirkzee isn't suited to what the manager wants and isn't a goalscorer anyway. Nobody in our team is a goalscorer. So even if we have a good 60 minutes of a game, we might control possession, but it's unlikely we'll score so the opposition will get more confidence and eventually come out. Our possession in games is good. We don't leak a crazy amount of chances anymore like we did in early 2024, though of course the defensive side can improve. We are just horrible in the final 3rd and that is down to personnel. Young and promising but inconsistent 10's combined with garbage CF options. Not a single other position would have anywhere close to as big of an impact on us as if we just sorted out the CF.
Ok if I INEOS doesn't want to make huge investments on a 27 year old forward, then how many young strikers are out there that tick all the following boxes:
1. Would improve us immediately and would start scoring goals constantly but that X striker must be at he same time young since that is the INEOS transfer policy and we already have 2 young strikers that don't score goals
2. That X strikers is financially realistic for Man Utd
3. That X strikers wants to come to Man Utd
1. Would improve us immediately and would start scoring goals constantly but that X striker must be at he same time young since that is the INEOS transfer policy and we already have 2 young strikers that don't score goals
2. That X strikers is financially realistic for Man Utd
3. That X strikers wants to come to Man Utd