For me, the cheaper fee doesn’t necessarily mean we would be getting a player who is a clear difference maker. We still need a prolific goal scorer and I don’t suspect Delap alone would suddenly revultionize our attack.
Striker Poll - Who should we buy ?
- Thread starter Katy Cat
- Start date
For me, the cheaper fee doesn’t necessarily mean we would be getting a player who is a clear difference maker. We still need a prolific goal scorer and I don’t suspect Delap alone would suddenly revultionize our attack.
I think so. He has show he can shoot and finish from difficult angles etc. Bigger problem seems to be getting into good positions to score.
I haven’t seen any evidence of this. He’s repeatedly proven that he struggles at every aspect of being a striker.
Occasional flashes of competence are quickly followed by stretches of complete anonymity or situations where he finds himself out of position to capitalize on buildup sequences.
It’s gotten so bad that our attackers seem to avoid prioritizing passing him the ball and instead prefer themselves taking low probability shots on goal (see Garnacho’s recent litany of frustrating misses).
I don’t blame Hojlund for any of this since players don’t buy themselves. It’s just time to move on from this failed experiment and buy a proper 9 who can help us get back into the top 4 picture.
Good one-on-one finisher, but he's got himself into that position exactly once this season.
We will have to agree to disagree on this one. The entire purpose of all the threads discussing buying a new striker exist because its widely viewed that our current #9 is woefully inadequate. His ineffectiveness is the biggest driver of the main problem we have and why we are in 14th and not (say) in 6th or better. Unless Amorim is prepared to go big in the striker market this summer, he will probably end up getting sacked next year because we won't be anywhere near the top four with what we have plus a player like Delap.
That's fair enough. I may be giving Hojlund too much rope too and have done with other United players in the past. I do think he has attributes that can be used effectively, like with Garnacho, I think they have a place in the squad - not necessarily in the first XI.
We need two or three to reduce the pressure. One of the main reasons Rasmus is failing is due to the pressures on him. If we can create a rotational system of strikers it would significantly reduce the expectation.
No idea
Cunha and Delap would be very good. Cunha and Gyokeres would be amazing.
Gonzalo Ramos is never gonna start for Luis Enrique, and might be a realistic option.
I'd be keeping an eye on Watkins' situation. Don't know whether he was left out yesterday because he's just coming back from injury but if Rashford is going to start ahead of him more often he might be interested in moving. Especially with next season being a World Cup year, he's not guaranteed a place in that squad so he'll want to be playing regularly.
Villa would likely consider a decent offer too. He's at an age where his value is unlikely to get any higher, I think they would have been more tempted to sell in January had Arsenal's offer not been so late and after Duran had just been sold.
Villa would likely consider a decent offer too. He's at an age where his value is unlikely to get any higher, I think they would have been more tempted to sell in January had Arsenal's offer not been so late and after Duran had just been sold.
Someone else said that, I can't really see it myself. He'd have far more goals if he was.
Re: Delap, if Hojlund was sold in the summer, then Delap might be a good replacement, but we'd still need a main, experienced striker.
I think he is yes. Shame the rest of his game is bloody awful so it doesn’t really matter much
Agree with this. If Hojlund was a good finisher then threads like this wouldn't exist. Unfortunately (and fortunately), 3 league goals in 26 appearances is a massive bat signal that we need an immediate upgrade if this club has any hope of going anywhere. Delap would be a suitable replacement for Hojlund, but we would still need one of the other big two (Gyok or Osim) and possibly an AM like Cherki to make a serious top 4 run next year. If that requires Hojlund and Zirkzee then so be it.
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Fully agreed, even if Hojlund was a good finisher, it doesn't matter because he doesn't shoot nor does he get into good positions to shoot.
I also agree that Delap should come in as a rotational striker with an experienced scorer as the primary player. There are more than enough games to go around and we need to seriously increase our goal threat. In a dream world we would win Europa and find money to sign Isak!
Sorry but that is a crazy statement. Not even defending Hojlund here but if you think a different striker would have made that much difference to our league position you might be very disappointed with the results. We do need a better striker and it will make a difference to us but unless we improve at least 3 of the players behind that striker we are not getting higher than mid table. We need two number tens and two actual wing backs to make the system work and right now we don't have any natural fits in those positions.
You're talking about a sport where the primary objective is outscoring the opposition to accure points. So obviously a striker capable of 20-30 goals is going to get you more points and by logical extension, a higher league position.
I don't buy into the nonsense that we need a massive list of new players so we can incrementally move up the table over several years. Get a proper striker, get the other injured players back, and we are back in contention.
If you don't think goals are important, note that Forest are in 3rd with only 14 more goals than us at the moment. If we a Kane, or even a Gyokeres or Osimhen, we would be right in the top four mix.
There are only a handful of strikers capable of 20+ goals and even then they do not come with a guarantee. The best strikers in the world cannot score if the team is not creating a sufficient number of decent quality chances. Put Osimhen in the team this season and considering the type of service he thrives on I would bet he would be struggling to hit double figures by this point. We do not cross, we do not pass. We have wingbacks terrified to play with aggression who choose to pass back and kill momentum, we have a winger who thinks that shooting off balance from impossible angles is the right decision even when a teammate is standing in space in front of goal. Swapping 1 striker for another without fixing the other issues is not going to lead to an 8 place swing in the table and I am not even going to point out that having a goalkeeper who was charitably described as one of the worst in our history has cost us far more points than poor finishing has.
Osimhen and Gyokeres are accomplished strikers. The latter scores a league goal a game at Sporting, so even if you chop that number in half in England, that's still far more than anything we're getting now. Both are fully capable of Isak like numbers in the Prem. Apply that to United and you're looking at a top 4 side. No need to complicate simplicity here.
Because there's no one to pass to. What good is crossing the ball to a woefully ineffective striker who everyone already knows is incapable of taking advantage of the service he gets. This is why Garnacho, Amad, and Bruno have been forced to take matters into their own hands with mixed results. If the issue was as simple as "just get the ball to Hojlund" it would've been done ages ago. The problem is Hojlund's woeful ineffectiveness, not all the players surrounding him. Fortunately for us, its easily fixable by replacing him with a striker who has demonstrated they can score an abundance of goals.
I'm sorry mate, but your opinion is bollocks and seems to be based on the United of 3 months ago, we're much better at all of those things now.
What's missing is someone who knows where the fecking goal is.
Rashford scored 30 goals a couple of seasons ago and look at the difference it made. When he scored a third as many goals the following season, look where we finished.
We have had this discussion before and probably will again many times until both Hojlund and Garnacho are gone but for the record and at least for one more time. Hojlund is available to pass to and in good positions, particularly early on in games. To say he is woefully ineffective when given the ball in front of goal is to deny the evidence of his time here, he can score goals and has a very good conversion rate. Garnacho simply will not pass to any teammate if he thinks he can get a shot off, it is a massive problem and is glaringly obvious which is why the match day threads are littered with comments about how greedy and wasteful he is.
Now, Rasmus does stop showing up in goal scoring positions as the games progress, Ruben Amorim has discussed this point in post match press conferences both the lack of and poor quality of service and also the lack of patience shown by Rasmus in giving up on making runs into the box when it is not going his way. A more experienced striker may show more patience, I rather think a player like Osimhen would have put Garnacho in a chokehold months ago, but the defence of Garnacho that there is no one to pass to is simply false, he does not pass because deep down he simply does not want to.
Consider the argument you're making here. Hojlund is good enough as long as we simply get him the ball. If you were to actually believe this, then you would have to buy into a conspiracy that Amorim is deliberately avoiding winning matches by not instructing his wide players to get Hojlund the ball more. After all, if it were only that simple, we could be in top four contention.
As for Garnacho, we have a history of him passing the ball into box to everyone from McTominay to Shaw to Bruno to Rashford. Once players get a sense that the player on the other end can finish their chance, they prioritize getting it to them. Hojlund hasn't quite demonstrated this and I suspect he never well, because he's simply not good enough.
That was last season, it doesn't count 
Two strikers in if Højlund gets sold. Delap as a backup in development.
That's the hope.
It probably makes sense at this point. You get the feeling some of our players just dont trust hojlund and aren't looking for him even when he gets into good positions. You'd expect any kind of striker to get a couple of gimme's over the course of the season but i cant remember hojlund missing too many easy chances. Maybe a season long loan to get him back on track makes sense. If nothing else might rehabilitate his value a bit for a sale the year after.
I dont think we get Delap if we present the position as a backup striker though.
Think he’s so average personally. Another Portuguese league player who has struggled.
Thought their striker last night was a real handful, albeit everyone looks good against us!
Mikautadze an option?
He impressed me more than Cherki.
Not everything came off from him but he showed good desire and very impressive movement.
He continually found little pockets of space.
He could also be a option in one of Ruben's number 10 roles.
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Maybe because he isn’t very good
Price dependent but v good on the half turn and running at people - dare I say an exciting player.
I don't ever watch him but he had impressive moments of quality last night. But, I also had long moments of the game where I didn't notice him at all.
I went with Mateta. I rarely use this as a reasoning, but he has premier league experience, and I think that is important. I don't think Hojlund can be our number one striker, but I don't think we should sell him either, he was top scoring in the CL for half of 23/24 for a reason, that player is still in there. Mateta is the right age, 27, which is prime for a striker, he has a few years in the league and has settled into a reliable striker. He can come in as number one, but isn't such a big ego that if Hojlund went on a streak and benched Mateta that he would become a problem. I think we could get 3 or 4 years out of him, and in that time Hojlund could develop into a top player. He shouldn't cost a fortune and moving from Crystal Palace to United is a huge upgrade, but he isn't a big enough name where he is demanding CL football in his career and would shun United.
Judging by all the reports, it does seem like our primary targets are Delap and Cunha. Which would be nice but if we could somehow do a deal for either of Gyokeres or Osimheim (do Napoli still want Garnacho?) as well that would be great.
Our forward line could potentially be the following which would be exciting.
Delap/Osimhein
Cunha (Mount) Amad (Bruno)
Dorgu Ugarte Bruno (Mainoo) RWB
Get rid of Rasmus, Zirkzee and Garnacho.
Our forward line could potentially be the following which would be exciting.
Delap/Osimhein
Cunha (Mount) Amad (Bruno)
Dorgu Ugarte Bruno (Mainoo) RWB
Get rid of Rasmus, Zirkzee and Garnacho.
Yeah don't understand not signing either as both would have been cheap shrewd deals
For me, this all comes down to a simple math problem—we just don’t have enough goals in this team.
We’re currently on pace to score around 45 goals in the league this season. That’s nowhere near the level a top side should be at. Ideally, we should be hitting the 80-goal mark if we want to compete at the highest level.
Now, look at our strikeforce. Combined, they’ve scored 6 goals so far. Even if they pick up form, it’s hard to see them getting beyond 10 goals total by the end of the season. That’s clearly not good enough, and it puts a ceiling on how far we can go.
Even assuming improvement next season, they’d need to somehow add another 35 goals between them just to get us to the level we’re aiming for. That’s a massive leap—and frankly, not a realistic one.
So we’ve got two options:
1. Find one elite forward who can consistently give us 25–35 goals a season, or
2. Sign a combination of players who, together, can hit those numbers.
That kind of player is rare, no doubt—but not impossible to find. For me, Gyökeres fits the bill. He’s the kind of all-round striker who can lift the entire attacking output of the team. With players like Højlund and Zirkzee still having a role to play, adding someone like Gyökeres could be the difference between mediocrity and serious progress.
As for the second option, there are different ways to go about it. A scoring attacking midfielder like Cunha, a versatile left winger like Oyarzabal or Gonçalves, or even an extra forward type like Delap could collectively get us there. It doesn't have to be all on one player, but the output absolutely has to improve.
We’re currently on pace to score around 45 goals in the league this season. That’s nowhere near the level a top side should be at. Ideally, we should be hitting the 80-goal mark if we want to compete at the highest level.
Now, look at our strikeforce. Combined, they’ve scored 6 goals so far. Even if they pick up form, it’s hard to see them getting beyond 10 goals total by the end of the season. That’s clearly not good enough, and it puts a ceiling on how far we can go.
Even assuming improvement next season, they’d need to somehow add another 35 goals between them just to get us to the level we’re aiming for. That’s a massive leap—and frankly, not a realistic one.
So we’ve got two options:
1. Find one elite forward who can consistently give us 25–35 goals a season, or
2. Sign a combination of players who, together, can hit those numbers.
That kind of player is rare, no doubt—but not impossible to find. For me, Gyökeres fits the bill. He’s the kind of all-round striker who can lift the entire attacking output of the team. With players like Højlund and Zirkzee still having a role to play, adding someone like Gyökeres could be the difference between mediocrity and serious progress.
As for the second option, there are different ways to go about it. A scoring attacking midfielder like Cunha, a versatile left winger like Oyarzabal or Gonçalves, or even an extra forward type like Delap could collectively get us there. It doesn't have to be all on one player, but the output absolutely has to improve.
Yeah should be left at realistic options
In two months, we might have qualified for the Champions League and made more good sales than we initially hoped for. There are many factors at play, and realistically, yes — we’ll most likely have to look at the second-highest tier and/or a “Dorgu-style” signing here and there.
But I’m not completely ruling out a top signing for the striker position just yet.
I don’t think we can really afford to go another season without a guaranteed goalscorer and creator up front — someone in the mold of Gyökeres.
But I’m not completely ruling out a top signing for the striker position just yet.
I don’t think we can really afford to go another season without a guaranteed goalscorer and creator up front — someone in the mold of Gyökeres.