I got a question under a picture on Höjlund vs Rashford, and it was about how many goals i believed Rashford would score this upcoming season. And here is my answer. Wanted to see if there is anyone else that agrees with me on this subject? So please, up for discussion!
How many he will get this season depends if we bring in a world class striker (most likely not gonna happen) and if we will play him as pure winger or, if we don't bring in a striker, play him as the main striker for the whole season and not switch him back and forth. He needs to get used to playing through the center and improving his movement in the box when we dominate games and teams parking the bus which leads to him being fighting CBs and not depending on his pace as much as he normally does when he plays LW. He will also need to improve his aerial timing and strength, studying Ronaldos movement in the box and aerial ability would be perfect. Faster decision making, shooting on one touch passes in the box, being more selfish and shooting more. Sounds like a lot to improve but seeing how much he gained from working with Benny McCarthy last season makes me feel very comfortable that he would improve even more and even faster this season if we accept the fact that, and hopefully sooner than later, that we won't get Kane, Atalanta don't seem to lower their asking price for an yet unproven 20 years old that scored a total lof 9 goals in 30+ matches in Serie A (still demanding close to 80-90m euros is ridiculous), then we have my favorite option in Osimhen, who is even more expensive but proven and made for PL and ETH high pressing style of playing his forwards (maybe next year if Sheikh Jassim buys the club). So if we don't find the right striker this summer, don't waste money on some average player just because we are desperate - rather decide early, ideal would be right now during the tour in US to play him as the striker and let him work extra individual with Benny and get him ready to make the position his own. If we are not selling Martial or/and decide to bring back Mason Greenwood to the teams we have backup as well if needed. I believe Rashford, with a good preseason, individual training sessions with McCarthy and let him know that he is our main striker this season would take his goals scoring to a new level. 25 goals in the league and a total of 40 in all competitions should be his goal then. With our counters he should be able to add 10+ assists, meaning he would end up with 50G/A, which are crazy stats compared to just looking back to season 21/22. So either we somehow bring in Kane Osimhen or give Rashford the chance with a preseason where he plays striker and striker only. We have Antony, Sancho, Garnacho, Martial, Amad, Pellistri and at least for now also Elanga and maybe Greenwood to fill the 2 winger spots.
I have a lot more to add to my point and could express more why and how i feel about some situations even more deeply but since the original conversation was on Instagram, it makes more difficult to express yourself more since you only see the last sentence you have written so I tried to kept the answer short and without many stats, facts or to much personal opinions.
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