Manchester United sent scouts to watch Tammy Abraham on the weekend as the club’s recruitment department searches for alternatives to Tottenham star Harry Kane.
United are in desperate need of a world-class striker in the summer transfer window, with Wout Weghorst failing to fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo ’s departure mid-season. They are among the clubs considering a bid for Kane, who is about to enter the final year of his Spurs contract.
But the club are keeping their options open and have been keeping a close eye on former Chelsea striker Abraham, who is a regular for Jose Mourinho ’s Roma. He scored in Roma’s 1-1 draw against AC Milan on Saturday and representatives of United were there to see it, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.
Abraham scored what appeared to be a winner in the 94th minute, only for Alexis Saelemaekers to hit back three minutes later to earn Milan a point. It was Abraham’s eighth goal in 32 Serie A appearances this season to go with four assists.
United scouts have been spotted ‘several times’ at Roma games to watch Abraham this season. But, like Napoli star Victor Osimhen, he is unlikely to come cheap in the summer transfer window.
Abraham has a €80million (£70m) buyback clause in his contract which would allow Chelsea to bring him back to west London this summer. The 25-year-old joined Roma from the Blues in a £34m move in the summer of 2021 and that clause will complicate things.
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That is because Roma would have to let Chelsea know of any bids they receive from other clubs for Abraham. It means the Italian side would likely demand £70m from United, were they to move for him.
Kane, meanwhile, has been strongly linked with a move to United, but he hinted over the weekend that he will hold further talks with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy about his future. “I feel like those conversations will happen toward the end about how we can improve,” he said.
United’s intentions will be obvious to selling clubs at the end of the season, with Erik ten Hag admitting recently that a striker is of paramount importance. “Yeah, I think everyone knows,” he said when asked if a new No.9 will be his priority. “It’s not a secret that over the whole season we had a shortage of No.9s.
“First, we had the dropout of [Cristiano] Ronaldo, then Antony Martial was often not available, Jadon Sancho was often not available, then you have a shortage of frontline players.
“With less players we have to cover many games, so definitely we need in the frontline players who strengthen the squad. You can approach that from many ways. The typical No.9, Rashford can also play very good as a No. 9 and Anthony Martial is a great No.9.
“We have players who can play in that role but, definitely, we need some offensive players who are really impact players, quality players, who improve the frontline.”
