Six months ago the Manchester United striker search was dominated by two names. Harry Kane and Victor Osimhen were the players circulating at the top of the list and it looked like a case of either one of those two leading the line for Erik ten Hag’s team next season.
But now we are in the white heat of a transfer window the equation looks less simple. It’s reaching the point where it would be a surprise if United landed either one of the two truly elite strikers that looked like they might be on the market this summer.
Kane is Ten Hag’s top target and he has a year left to run on his contract at Tottenham with little intention of signing an extension as things stand. But the obdurate Daniel Levy is digging his heels in and United know how hard striking a deal with the Spurs chairman can be.
Levy is desperate not to sell Kane to one of their Premier League rivals. Interest from Real Madrid, who need a replacement for Karim Benzeama, could offer him an appealing route to still getting a fee for the club’s record goalscorer, but he might also opt to keep Kane and risk him leaving for nothing in 2024.
ALSO READ: United transfer decision could be good news for former Barcelona starlet
United might be interested again in 12 months' time but it doesn’t solve their need in the here and now. Kane is a guarantee of goals in the Premier League and his 30 in 2022/23 was a remarkable total given the struggles his team endured.
He turns 30 in July but would still significantly improve Ten Hag’s team, where the shortage of an elite striker was one of the most glaring holes in the team last season.
If not Kane, then Osimhen always looked like a viable alternative. The 24-year-old scored 31 goals in 39 games for Napoli this season, firing them to a famous Scudetto, and his game looks tailor-made for the Premier League. But Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis can be as difficult to deal with as Levy and he’s adamant the Nigerian is going nowhere this summer.
If Kane and Osimhen are off the market then that is where things get difficult for United, especially as Ten Hag ideally wants two forwards this summer, including a younger option with the potential to develop.
The priority has to be someone that can start every week and add more goals to the front line, however. Anthony Martial failed his own audition for that role last season. He flickered brightly at times but was inconsistent in the second half of the season and after picking up yet another injury that ruled him out of the FA Cup final, his time really should be up.
United’s approach to signing players now involves the recruitment team drawing up a list of five targets for each position, with Ten Hag then having the casting vote on who to go for, but it’s not always that easy.
If Kane and Osimhen are already scrubbed off then options are thin on the ground. Randal Kolo Muani could be on the move this summer and the 24-year-old did score for France in the World Cup, but his club career consists of a promising few years at Nantes and now one good season for Eintracht Frankfurt.
Atalanta forward Rasmus Hojlund is four years younger than Kolo Muani and has nine goals in 33 games for his Italian club this season. He has admirers in Europe, not least United, but has played for three clubs in two years and is surely a project for the future rather than the short-term.
Goncalo Ramos probably fits somewhere between Kolo Muani and Hojlund. The 21-year-old caught the eye with his World Cup hat-trick for Portugal and has 27 goals in 47 games leading the line for Benfica this season.
Ramos has replaced the goals that Benfica lost when Darwin Nunez moved to Liverpool and the Uruguayan is a cautionary tale. United were interested in him a year ago when he moved to Anfield, but he’s struggled in his first season in English football, despite an initial fee of £64million.
That just shows that beyond the elite there isn’t really a guarantee of goals for a striker in the Premier League, especially when options amongst No. 9s are so thin on the ground now.
If United have to drop down their list to sign a striker, then this is the time for football director John Murtough to prove his recruitment overhaul really has helped to eradicate mistakes. If United are to close down Manchester City in the next couple of years then they have to be close to perfect in the transfer market.
But beyond Kane, and maybe Osimhen, every other striker comes with risk attached. Murtough and his team have to give Ten Hag the option that will fit into his style, adding work rate off the ball and quality on it.
To have a chance of winning the biggest trophies, United need more goals, but how they get there could be a taxing issue this summer.
NEXT UP:
