Manchester United Still Need To Sign Another Striker This Week

After collecting six points in the space of five days last week the gloom that had engulfed Manchester United lifted and was replaced by a cautious optimism.

Those consecutive Premier League wins over Liverpool and Southampton hauled United from the bottom of the table to a more respectable eighth.

The arrival of Casemiro to bolster their midfield last week, and the imminent arrival of the Brazilian winger Antony from Ajax for a fee believed to be around £84 million have also helped to strengthen Erik ten Hag’s options for the rest of the season.

United’s total spending in this transfer window is about to pass £200 million this summer, but there remains a glaring weakness in their squad.

There are now less than 72 hours remaining in the transfer window before it closes on Thursday and United still do not boast a reliable source of goals.

It was Cristiano Ronaldo who fulfilled this role last season, as United’s top scorer with 24 goals in all competitions, which also won him their Player of the Year award.

But at the start of July Ronaldo informed the United board he wished to leave the club and join a side where he could play in the Champions League.

However, nearly two months later the issue of his future remains unresolved and despite his revered status he has not been able to find a new club.

Despite his agent touring a host of clubs around Europe no one has been prepared to take the risk of signing a hugely expensive 37-year-old striker.

An early settlement, allowing Ronaldo to leave and United to buy his replacement would have suited both parties, but this has not happened.

After initially appearing keen to work with Ronaldo, Ten Hag has inevitably cooled on the idea, and only started him in one of United’s opening four Premier League games.

It will not have escaped Ten Hag’s attention United appeared more effective and cohesive when Ronaldo did not start in their victories over Liverpool and Southampton.

But United can’t be too impetus and simply allow Ronaldo to leave, for this would further deplete their already inadequate stable of strikers.

This would leave Antony Martial, who has impressed under Ten Hag in pre-season and the 45 minutes he played against Liverpool, but he has already missed three games through injury, against Brighton, Brentford and Southampton.

It would be impossible to rely on such an injury-prone player, who has scored just five Premier League goals over the course of the last two seasons.

It was Marcus Rashford who played in the number nine position in the last two games, and though he scored against Liverpool, he followed that up with a largely anonymous display against Southampton.

Once again, for Ten Hag to place his trust in Rashford, who has never proven himself as a central striker, and scored only five Premier League goals since the start of last season would be another major risk.

It means United still need to recruit another striker, but at such a late stage, this will be a difficult and fraught task.

Even if Ronaldo was forced to stay United still look short of options up front, but if he was to leave they would definitely need to act quickly.

United have been linked with a host of strikers including Matheus Cunha, Alvaro Morata, Sasa Kaladjzic, and more short-term options like Marko Arnautovic and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but so far nothing has materialised.

After United’s win against Southampton, Ten Hag said, “We have Cristiano, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford so we are ok [for strikers].”

But deep down the Dutchman knows this will not be enough for the long and testing season ahead of him.