Manchester United are likely to be in the market for strikers this summer as Ruben Amorim seeks more goals next season.
This has been a tough season for Manchester United fans who became so accustomed to goals flying in under Sir Alex Ferguson.
United have bagged seven goals in the last two games though, hitting four against Real Sociedad and three against Leicester City.
Rasmus Hojlund celebrated ending his 21-game goal drought as he opened the scoring against Leicester on Sunday.
More goals are needed moving forward though and it’s no surprise to see United being linked with Hugo Ekitike this week.
The Eintracht Frankfurt striker has been in exceptional form this season and could find himself near the top of United’s wish list.
Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images
Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images
Ralf Rangnick mentioned three attackers for Manchester United
United will look at attacking midfielders as well as strikers to play in Amorim’s 3-4-2-1.
Major investment is needed and United must get it right; huge money was spent on the likes of Jadon Sancho, Antony, Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee with mixed results at best.
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That takes us back to the Ralf Rangnick era as the now-Austria boss was very vocal about the rebuild United needed.
Rangnick had a real eye for talent and much of the Red Bull success in the transfer market was off the back of his insight.
2022 saw Rangnick tell Sky Sports that he disagreed with United’s stance that there were no forwards on the market who could help.
Rangnick mentioned Luis Diaz, Julian Alvarez and Dusan Vlahovic as played United could have signed but they instead joined Liverpool, Manchester City and Juventus respectively.
“The answer at the time was no there was no player on the market that could really help us – there were a few, Diaz who is now at Liverpool, Alvarez who will be at Manchester City in the summer, Vlahovic who at the time still was with Fiorentina those are just three of them that come across my mind now,” said Rangnick.
More than three years on, those three players are still scoring plenty of goals whilst United seek a clinical edge.
Diaz has hit 13 goals in all competitions for Liverpool this season whilst Juventus hitman Vlahovic is on 14 goals.
Alvarez left Manchester City for Atletico Madrid last summer and has racked up 23 goals across all competitions.
That is a combined tally of 50 goals between the three this season with 12 assists between the trio too.
We can understand the notion that those players could still have struggled in an unsettled United environment but there is some serious talent there – all of which flew under the United radar at the time.
Manchester United could finally land Dusan Vlahovic this summer
United may not have moved for Diaz, Alvarez or Vlahovic at the time but the latter may yet be a prime target this summer.
Reports from Italy earlier this year suggested that United are keen to sign Vlahovic this summer.
The Serbian striker is set to enter the final year of his contract and Juve may well be forced to cash in.
Vlahovic has been a proven goalscorer in Italy and this summer could be a golden chance for United to finally sign him for a reasonable fee due to that contract situation.
Other strikers will be in the mix but Vlahovic should be very appealing as a proven centre forward who still has so much left in the tank at 25.
Reports suggest that United are against signing Viktor Gyokeres due to a belief that he will be too old once he turns 27 this summer.
Vlahovic doesn’t turn 26 until next January and having already proven himself in a top five league – unlike Gyokeres – he should be on United’s radar this summer.