Manchester United ’s striking options have taken a hit in recent times and Cristiano Ronaldo has struggled to do all the goalscoring work by himself.
In fact, he has struggled to score in general, with the Portuguese forward hitting the back of the net just once in 10 games in 2022.
It has been very out of character for the five time Ballon d’Or winner, who has scored more than 30 goals in 11 of his past 12 seasons for Real Madrid and Juventus.
And with Mason Greenwood currently unavailable, along with the recent injury that has kept strike partner Edinson Cavani out of the side, Ronaldo has struggled to operate on his own up front, despite having the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford behind him.
However, academy graduate Anthony Elanga has burst onto the Old Trafford scene of late and former United defender Paul Parker believes he can be the perfect strike partner to Ronaldo going forward.
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Elanga has been operating as a winger for United and has notched three goals in his last eight games for the Red Devils and Parker feels that the 19-year-old is the only winger who could convert to a striker or play as a number nine.
He told bettingexpert : "I think (Anthony) Elanga is the only one you can do it (playing as a striker or false 9) with.
"It does need a change. I'm trying to think of someone but Elanga out of all the wide players is the one who's done really well.
"The other two, Sancho and Rashford, just haven't been good enough so far.
"We've seen already, they (Man Utd) haven't got a focal point, they haven't got a centre-forward."
The Swedish under 21 international has been a breath of fresh air in Ralf Rangnick’s squad in 2022 and has produced some impressive performances to see him become a regular in the side.
And he has already performed to an excellent level on the big stage, especially when he popped up with a well taken equaliser away to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League last week.
But if Rangnick is to convert Elanga to a No.9, in order to help with the supply of goals, then Parker feels that it is important he doesn’t have too much pressure put on him.
He said: "You don't want to put too much on his shoulders, he's still trying to build a career.
"You try not to put him in the limelight too much, you don't want the media to put him up too high - 'he's gonna be the next this, he's gonna be the next that' - for all of a sudden, for too much going and it all falls apart, before he's even evolved. A bit like what's happened to Rashford.
"Elanga, you think to yourself, it's okay but you don't want to put the onus on him, you don't want him suddenly for his game to collapse cause all of a sudden he's out of position and if it isn't going right, he might think 'oh, I'm better off out wide, I was playing good out there.'"
