Cristiano Ronaldo has left Manchester United and the club now need to find a way to replace him.
Though United have improved considerably under Erik ten Hag this season, they still need a boost in the goalscoring department. In the Premier League, they've scored only 20 goals - Arsenal have scored 33.
This means that in their search for goalscoring reinforcements, United cannot repeat the mistakes of January 2020, where they also had the problem of needing to bring in another striker. At that point, their two main options were Josh King and Odion Ighalo.
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King was heavily linked with United throughout the month and the club bid £20million for him, only to see their offer rejected by Bournemouth. The striker told Ben Foster on his Cycling GK YouTube channel: "The lowest moment of my career was when Bournemouth said no to the bid from United."
United then looked at other targets and on deadline day they got their man: 30-year-old Ighalo. Questions were raised over the transfer but after the Nigerian forward reposted 100s of stories on his Instagram congratulating his move and showed that this was a lifelong dream for him, he endeared himself to the Old Trafford faithful.
Ighalo wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. He was used as a third-choice striker and did well in his limited minutes. Even when he didn't score, he helped the team by holding the ball up and occupying defenders. But United need goals.
Ronaldo had only scored three this season and although Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial have both performed much better than the Portuguese forward, the former has room for improvement and the latter has been injured too often.
United can't afford to bring in another stopgap, they need a young striker who can be part of their project for the long term but can also contribute to the team now. Chelsea will likely reinforce further in January and the top four places are already in the balance given Arsenal's good form and Newcastle's improvements.
Cody Gakpo, Rafael Leao and Victor Osimhen have all been linked with United and all would be fine additions to a young and developing squad. It is up to United whether they choose to support Ten Hag in the winter window.
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