Manchester United have won the Carabao Cup, they have reached the FA Cup final and Champions League football looks guaranteed. There were doubts about whether Erik ten Hag was the right appointment but the decision has proved to be inspired. He's enjoyed an excellent debut season at Old Trafford and the framework is now being laid for the next stage of his rebuild.
Although spending north of £200million in the summer transfer window, Ten Hag has got the best out of the players he inherited, however, he's not been able to solve the lack of goals away from Marcus Rashford.
Rashford has scored 28 goals this season and he's responsible for around 35 per cent of the team's haul. The forward has enjoyed an exceptional campaign, but the over-reliance on his goals is a concern and a solution needs to be found.
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It's understood Ten Hag has made Harry Kane his priority striker target and that Napoli's Victor Osimhen and Benfica's Goncalo Ramos are high on the shortlist, which is unsurprising considering the attractive profiles of each of those players.
Kane is a guarantee of goals in the Premier League and Osimhen is currently the most sought-after striker in Europe. They would both command a fee in excess of £100m, whilst Benfica also tend to drive a hard bargain with their talented exports.
It's obvious that United need a centre-forward. They will sign a striker this summer, but with the club currently in takeover limbo, it wouldn't be out of character for the Glazers to use the circumstances to pinch the pennies in the market.
Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Sir Jim Ratcliffe remain in negotiations to purchase the club after the second round of bidding ended, although a takeover decision needs to be made sooner or later, for the sake of the summer transfer plans.
While the bids from Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe are different, with the former wanting an entire acquisition and the latter wanting a majority stake, they have both pitched significant investment and that would help to sign a world-class striker.
However, the MEN understands the Glazers could remain as owners beyond this summer and if that nightmare scenario does happen, they must also spend in the market again to fund the arrival of a prolific scorer.
Ten Hag has defied expectations in his first year in charge, but there has been a worrying lack of goals away from Rashford this season and that is bound to place a limit on the progress he can make, so signing a striker is non-negotiable.
Despite enjoying a number of strong wins in the Europa League, United have been incapable of putting teams to the sword in the Premier League and that's highlighted exactly why the arrival of a forward has been made the priority.
The Reds have won 18 games in the league this term and 10 of those have been decided by just a single goal. Another five of those wins have been decided by two goals and the remaining three victories have been decided by three goals.
United have defeated Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Leicester with a scoreline of 3-0 and each of those games took place at Old Trafford. They have struggled to be dominant away from home and a large win has not been seen.
In seasons previously, a few impressive scorelines have been secured, like a 5-1 against Leeds last term or the memorable 9-0 against Southampton in campaign before that, but this current side's attack hasn't been able to click in such fashion.
Such wins can define a season and that's the next challenge for Ten Hag's players. They must put a side to the sword in the Premier League and they have the opportunity to do just that against Tottenham on Thursday night.
Tottenham brutally conceded five goals in the opening 20 minutes against Newcastle at the weekend and they are defensively calamitous, which gives United hope of securing their first emphatic league win of Ten Hag's reign so far.
However, results from this season suggest that might be beyond them and a hard-fought win seems more likely. It ultimately seems the arrival of a prolific centre-forward will be needed to see a team in the league be put to the sword again.
Whoever owns the club in the summer transfer window must make that happen.
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