Manchester United should sign Goncalo Ramos.
I could end this article there and most fans would surely agree, especially after he announced himself on the global stage with a hat trick for Portugal against Switzerland in the World Cup round of 16, but I will explain my viewpoint more.
United need a new striker after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo. It is unlikely the club splash out on a forward in January although they may look to bring in a stop-gap, however, in the summer they need to look into the market and find a young striker who can be their number nine for the foreseeable future.
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Victor Osimhen is on the radar and many fans including myself would be happy to see him come to Old Trafford, but Ramos is equally as good and may even have a more well-rounded skillset than the Nigerian hit-man.
Last season, Ramos was played in a two with Darwin Nunez. The Uruguayan was Benfica's leading goalscorer and their main outlet upfront but that was facilitated by his Portuguese striking partner holding the ball up and drawing defenders away to give the space to operate in.
However this campaign, with the departure of Nunez to Liverpool and the appointment of Roger Schmidt, Ramos has been deployed as a lone striker and thrived as the main man.
In the Portuguese League, he has nine goals and three assists in 11 games. He also scored four goals in Champions League qualifying to help Benfica reach the group stages and of course, many fans know how that went, with the Lisbon side finishing top of their group ahead of Paris Saint Germain.
What fans should be excited about is Ramos' contribution to the game even when he doesn't score. Against Switzerland, he was consistently applying pressure to the back line and chasing after every loose ball, which allowed Portugal to keep their foot on their opponent's neck once they had gone ahead.
Commentators and pundits alike agreed that this is something that Ronaldo, who Ramos had replaced in the starting XI, wouldn't have offered.
The only issue will be the price. The Sun linked United with a move earlier this season that would have cost around £25m, however with his performances in the league and now at the World Cup, it is likely that Benfica will default to their usual stance which is 'the release clause or nothing'.
Ramos' release clause, like his teammate Enzo Fernandez's, is thought to be over €100m (£86m) and this means that Erik ten Hag and United need to be sure he is the striker for them before they sanction any deal. Personally, however, I don't think they can do much better than the Benfica forward.
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