A midfield actually nullifies all the issues we had with Martial being out because with proper creativity in midfield even Rashford would be able to play as a CF again and Greenwood would also have an easier task there.
Right now Martial role is elevated because he tends to drop deep in midfield thus helping our inept midfield creativity(Lingard and Perreira guilty of this) thus his role becoming even more essential because he's now tasked with making things happen for other forwards/attacking players.
But once you have a good and creative midfield we can play any type of striker there, not only one that can hold up play and drop deep to help create. Therfore Rashford becomes an option again as CF and Greenwood can also be trusted in there despite his young age.
Honestly, wanting a new striker shouldn't even be a topic when we technically have 3 strikers in the squad in Martial, Greenwood and Rashford. These talks have crept in only because our lack of creativity which led to lack of goals sometimes make it seems we don't have goalscorers which isn't actually the case. Creativity is what doing us in.
I agree that midfield is our priority. The type of midfielder we need is not available in Jan, unless we throw silly money at Bruno (who seems like a great player, but the fact that he had no real interest from any teams in the summer should have alarm bells ringing).
I disagree that Rashford could do it, even with proper service. He just doesn't have the positioning, runs and consistent first touch to be a deadly CF. He's doing wonders out wide and has finally made that position his. No reason to move him.
At the rumoured release clause, Haaland is a no brain buy. Despite CF not being a priority, we will require additions there at some point soon and we'd be silly not to get him at such a low price whilst he's available.
I honestly think it'll be Haaland or nothing in Jan.