Manchester United have promised they won't be spending quite as freely as they did in the summer when January comes around.
After a slow start to the summer window, United winded up spending more than £200million as they added Tyrell Malacia, Lisandro Martinez, Casemiro and Antony to Erik ten Hag's squad, alongside the free agent signing of Christian Eriksen. The club has now spent over a billion since Sir Alex Ferguson retired and it just isn't sustainable to be splashing out such vast sums at every opportunity.
Yet, if there is one position they may be tempted to invest some money into in the new year it is for a new striker. Ten Hag's options are extremely limited in the position. Marcus Rashford has made a decent start to the campaign but still looks stronger on the left, Cristiano Ronaldo appears ill-suited to the manager's ideal style of football and Anthony Martial is once again injured.
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The case of the Frenchman is particularly gutting. After a promising pre-season in which he finally looked ready to take the lead striker mantle with both hands, he missed the start of the season with an injury. He returned off the bench against Liverpool and put in a cameo that won the game, setting up the second and decisive goal. Then he was struck down with an Achilles injury.
He finally came back in the Manchester derby and was the only positive on an otherwise dreadful afternoon, scoring a late brace to take the sting out of the defeat. He scored again as a substitute the following Thursday in the win over Omonoia Nicosia and then made his long-awaited return to the starting XI at Everton.
But there was another setback as an injury occurred in the warm-up. Martial started anyway and set up the equaliser but was withdrawn before the pause. It must be so frustrating for all involved for Martial to have already come back from injury twice to show he is ready and capable to be Ten Hag's leading man only for yet another ailment to befall him.
It's clear why United may want to look to bring in reinforcements in the position in January. All of three of the manager's current options are less than ideal and a proper, reliable goal-grabber is obviously required. But until then, or even after if one isn't signed, there is a wildcard option Ten Hag could experiment with.
Joe Hugill has had his own injury problems this year and hasn't played a game yet this season. Before his momentum was halted, the teenager was on a meteoric rise. In his first campaign after arriving from Sunderland he netted 16 goals in 27 games across various age groups. He followed that up the following year with another solid return of 15.
A pure striker, Hugill has impressed with his predatory instincts in the box and has earned many calls to be given a chance in the first team. Now he is back in training, it could be time for him to finally get it considering United's lack of attacking options.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is one man who praised Hugill in the past. After an Under-21 fixture in which Amad made his debut and scored twice in a 6-3 win, it was Hugill who was actually the star of the show as he netted the other four goals and it could have been five if he hadn't handed a penalty to Amad.
In the aftermath, Solskjaer was asked if either were in line for a first-team call-up after the game and he actually named Hugill over the £37million signing. "If we go from that game, I’d pick Joe Hugill. Four goals by Hugill, he’s a top striker as well, we’re looking forward to seeing his development. Amad gets a good start and why Joe didn’t take the penalty himself to get five goals I’m going to ask him."
That's certainly high praise from a striker of such renown and, though he never did pick Hugill, it's something for Ten Hag to consider. If the 18-year-old can get back to full fitness and get straight back to scoring goals he could prove an interesting option, especially for the early rounds of the FA Cup and the Europa League campaign going forward.
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