Manchester United can copy Tottenham to solve their woes in front of goal by signing a striker who is a proven scorer in the Premier League. The Red Devils have struggled in the final third this season and had only found the back of the net on seven occasions in the top-flight ahead of their trip to West Ham on Sunday.
United suffered their worst start to a Premier League season after picking up just eight points from their opening seven matches.
That dismal return came after Erik ten Hag had led his side to their lowest points tally of the Premier League era last time around.
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Ten Hag managed to keep his job at Old Trafford in the summer after an end-of-season review but has been unable to rectify many of his side’s failings this campaign and is already under huge pressure again.
In the summer, he turned to Joshua Zirkzee in an effort to increase his team’s firepower after the Netherlands striker had scored just 11 goals for Bologna last term.
A year before Zirkzee’s arrival, Rasmus Hojlund was identified as the man to transform the United attack after impressing for Atalanta.
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Hojlund has dazzled in patches but has suffered a series of injury setbacks, while it’s too early to assess the long-term impact Zirkzee could have in the north west. But it’s fair to say the duo haven’t adapted to the Premier League as quickly as Ten Hag would have liked.
United should therefore scrap their strategy of signing talented strikers from across Europe and instead focus their efforts on taking Premier League highflyers to Old Trafford.
Tottenham did exactly that when they completed the signing of Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth in a £65million deal earlier this year. Solanke netted 19 league goals for the Cherries last time around and arrived in the capital having already experienced the demands of top-flight football in England.
Spurs bought the finished article and they paid less than United did for Hojlund. Solanke chipped in with a couple of goals in his first six Premier League matches for Spurs and has slotted into a well-oiled team who don’t appear to have any issues in front of goal.
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The star was even called up to the England squad earlier this month, with Three Lions interim manager Lee Carsley exclaiming: “A player that has done so well at Bournemouth and now he has taken that form into Spurs. He has got a lot of really good attributes that I really like. He’s extremely talented.”
Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou will be confident of getting a tune out of Solanke and may well expect the 27-year-old to at least match his tally from last term. Ten Hag, meanwhile, may be wondering where his side’s next goals are coming from.
The likes of Chris Wood, Danny Welbeck and Raul Jimenez are currently showing up the United strikers in the goalscoring charts.
And when the January transfer window opens, the Dutchman may have to roll the dice and persuade a proven Premier League goal machine to jump ship and join him in Manchester. That’s if he still has a job.
