Man Utd supplied £50m “full ahead”

One of many points with Manchester United’s present squad is the dearth of targets upfront from strikers Joshua ZIrkzee and Rasmus Hojlund. Zirkzee is a participant who brings a lot extra apart from targets, given his capacity to hyperlink up play, though Ruben Amoirm would maybe have preferred to have seen him rating greater than the 4 targets he has managed to this point.

Hojlund is a participant who possesses nice expertise however has appeared wanting confidence at occasions this season. He has scored seven targets within the 2024/25 marketing campaign, though simply two of these have come within the Premier League.

Marcus Rashford additionally appears set to depart the membership, with The Manchester Night Information reporting that Aston Villa are closing in on a late transfer for the 27-year-old.

To assist add targets to their sides – and doubtlessly fill Rashford’s ‘void’ – United have been linked with a brand new striker within the remaining days of the switch window.

Man Utd’s seek for a striker

The participant in query right here is Bayer Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface. The 24-year-old Nigerian worldwide got here near a transfer to Saudi facet Al Nassr at first of the week, and though the deal broke down, he might nonetheless depart the German champions.

In response to a report from journalist Graeme Bailey, United ‘have been made conscious of his state of affairs’ because of ‘historic curiosity’ they’ve in signing him, and will make a transfer earlier than the switch window slams shut on Monday.

The Saudi facet had agreed on a price of £50m for the Nigerian, so it’s secure to imagine he might value United anyplace upwards of that price.

Nonetheless, they don’t seem to be the one Premier League facet to have been supplied the possibility to signal him. London trio Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur have additionally been notified of his availability, as have Aston Villa, who want a alternative for Jhon Duran after his transfer to Al Nassr.

Why Boniface could be signing

If there may be one factor Boniface will deliver to United’s assault, it’s maybe the factor they want most; targets. This season, he has managed to search out the again of the online eight occasions in 15 appearances in all competitions.

He made a powerful begin to the 2024/25 marketing campaign, with six targets and an help within the first ten Bundesliga video games, however an harm has since stored him sidelined. Nonetheless, that was definitely a competition of his kind the earlier season.

In arguably one of the best group of 2023/24, Boniface led the assault underneath Xabi Alonso beautifully. He managed 21 targets and ten assists in 34 video games, exhibiting why soccer expertise scout Jacek Kulig described him as a “full ahead”.

Simply as he did this season, he began the 2023/24 on fireplace, with 9 targets and assists in seven top-flight video games.

He has additionally managed to outperform Rashford over the previous few seasons. It has not been a simple couple of campaigns for the England worldwide, who has seven targets throughout all competitions this season and managed simply eight final time period.

Nonetheless, he has an exemplary report at his boyhood membership, with 138 targets to his title, in 426 appearances since making his debut again in 2015/16.

Ought to United handle to signal Boniface, he could possibly be their very own model of Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane. Former supervisor Erik ten Hag confirmed that the membership needed to deliver the England captain to Outdated Trafford in the summertime of 2023, however they “could not get him”, with the Bundesliga giants as an alternative profitable the race.

Of their seek for extra targets, there is no such thing as a doubt that Kane would have introduced simply that to United. His report for Bayern is just excellent, with 70 targets and 22 assists in simply 72 video games. He has been phenomenal.

The Purple Devils may need their very own model of Kane in the event that they signed the Nigerian striker. The pair are famous as related gamers throughout Europe’s high 5 leagues, as per FBref, exhibiting simply how lethal Leverkusen’s quantity 22 could be in entrance of purpose.

For instance, Boniface has an anticipated targets per recreation of 0.89xG, in comparison with Kane’s 0.86xG. The Leverkusen star additionally averaged 3.7 shot-creating actions per recreation, with Kane solely barely extra, averaging 3.73 shot-creating actions per recreation.

This could possibly be a superb deal for United. For ‘simply’ £50m, they’d be beating a few of their largest rivals to a striker whose numbers are up there with the England captain, and who might definitely add targets to their facet.

This could possibly be the precise deal Amorim wants to assist his facet push for a decent Premier League end.

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