Erik ten Hag has defended loan striker Wout Weghorst – despite him having scored just once in six games for Manchester United.
United signed Weghorst from Burnley on loan until the end of the season to fill the void up front left by Cristiano Ronaldo's acrimonious departure before the World Cup. Dutch international Weghorst, who stands at 6ft 6in, has started all six games the Red Devils have played since joining them on January 13, but has a solitary goal to his name, which came in the EFL Cup.
With Anthony Martial unavailable again through injury, 30-year-old Weghorst will lead United's attack for Wednesday night's visit of Leeds to Old Trafford in the Premier League.
“In many scenarios, I can see us being very good with Wout, and in other scenarios, to be better with Martial,” said Ten Hag. “Martial has some capabilities he adds, he has some skills, he can be more variable, but what is definitely the case is Wout is doing a really good job for us in pressing.
“His offensive movements are very good and he's the one who makes players around him play better, to create spaces and also he has had some contributions in the box. As a team, we have to work better to anticipate his movements, because his movements are good.
“Quite a lot of times, he was close, like the header against the post against Nottingham Forest and a penalty against them, which he didn’t get. He's had many good actions and already a lot of good contributions to our results.
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“Especially for strikers, most of the time, it takes time. At the start of the season for Rashy [ Marcus Rashford ], we discussed it often and every time I said, 'it will come'. We had to work on routines, the team around him had to act better, but I saw his potential, the same I see with Wout.
“He will score but, in the meantime, do the other stuff, do it well. It's not about scoring individually, but scoring for the team - and the team has to win. He's doing a very good job at this moment in several aspects of football.”
Wednesday's fixture, as United go for a 14th successive win at Old Trafford in all competitions, will be the 21st game Martial has missed through injury this season. Ten Hag said the French striker is doing all he can to be fit, but admitted it is frustrating not being able to rely on him to be fit for every game.
"He was never 100 per cent this season, but he had a big impact every time he's available, even when he's at 80, 85, 90 per cent," Ten Hag added. “So, we do everything and Anthony is doing everything. I think Anthony is the player who has spent the most hours at Carrington this season to recover and get back.
"It's really a pity for him that he's disappointed. He's not always available and we want him to always be available, because that will improve our game and because routines can’t become routines when you're not always available."
