It's inevitable that Erling Haaland will leave Borussia Dortmund this summer. There are no shortage of suitors for Haaland and Manchester City are understood to be frontrunners to land his signature. That's hardly good news for Manchester United.
Haaland is the world's most sought after goalscorer. The centre-forward has 85 goals in 87 appearances for Borussia Dortmund and the thought of him playing for an already dominant Pep Guardiola side is difficult to stomach for United fans. There have been conversations about Haaland at Old Trafford but those talks have been made redundant after an abysmal season.
Although the Manchester Evening News revealed John Murtough had identified Haaland as United's long-term target in March last year, United's performances this term quickly ended their slim hopes of signing the player. Haaland has earned the luxury of being able to pick which club he wants to play for next and you'd be inclined to question his mental state if that destination was United.
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United are lost and meandering again after equalling their longest trophy drought for 40 years. The allure and the pull of the club will always remain to some extent, but it would be naive and stupid to think that's enough to attract the world's best players.
Haaland wants an environment already conducive to winning silverware and that's not Carrington. United's decline has meant they're no longer in the position to contend for such transfers and Ralf Rangnick discussed this matter last week. The interim boss, who has insisted he'll continue in his consultancy role, explained United need to focus on finding future stars themselves.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ironically recommended Haaland to United's board before his transfer from RB Salzburg to Dortmund. "My personal opinion is that the club should try to find future top star players and develop them," Rangnick said.
"He [Haaland] would be one of those examples where I think the focus should be on to try and identify and find and then convince players who could be Manchester United players for the next couple of years."
Haaland was a squandered opportunity for United but they can learn from that episode. United need to become a forward-thinking club - like Rangnick has suggested - with recruitment and a player that should be on their radar is Benfica's Darwin Nunez.
Although Nunez is one year older than Haaland, it feels like he could be 'the next Haaland' in European football. Nunez's rise at Benfica is reminiscent of Haaland's at RB Salzburg and his burgeoning reputation has made him subject to transfer speculation.
United are in the market for a striker and Nunez has been linked to the club. Nunez has scored 34 goals in 40 appearances this season - that includes six goals in the Champions League - and his profile suggests he could be the perfect centre-forward for Erik ten Hag's rebuild. Reports also suggest Nunez could be available for £70m, which seems reasonable for a player of his vast potential.
Nunez has enjoyed the bulk of his success in front of goal in Portugal's Primeira Liga, therefore some would suggest his prolific record needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, but that division has produced some world-class talent over the last few years.
Bruno Fernandes, Joao Felix, Ruben Dias and Ederson come to mind and Nunez could be the latest player to make a seamless transition to the Premier League. His statistics from this season certainly suggest he possesses the talent to do so.
Nunez has averaged more goals, more successful dribbles and more successful attacking actions per 90 than Haaland this season and he looks physically ready for the demands of the Premier League. Nunez could be the perfect Haaland alternative.
The youngster has his best years ahead of him and he's exactly the type of player United should be targetting.
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