I'm a 6ft 7' giant striker who 'idolises' Zlatan Ibrahimovic - now Man United could sign me for £26m
Manchester United are desperate to land a proven goalscorer this summer
Manchester United are enduring their worst top-flight season since their relegation under Tommy Docherty in 1974.
The Red Devils sit 13th in the table, 15 points adrift of the Champions League places, 13 points behind in the race for Europa League football and are seven points away from even being in the top half of the Premier League table.
There are many factors behind why this has been the poorest season in half a century for the 13-time Premier League winners: a change of ownership; the decision to perhaps stick with Erik ten Hag longer than required; the transition of new tactics and philosophies which came with Ruben Amorim; a poor transfer strategy; the Dan Ashworth saga; unrest behind the scenes at board level and, well, we’ll cut it short there - the list could go on for some time.
But one factor is glaringly obvious when it comes to results out on the pitch - and that is the fact that Man United quite simply do not score enough goals. They desperately need to sign a proven centre forward this summer, if they are going to somehow propel themselves up from the gutter and into European football contention next term.
Manchester United are in dire straits when it comes to scoring goals
In their latest grim outing, United slipped to a 1-0 defeat against high-flying Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. That result was the club’s 13th defeat in 30 league matches this season and also the 11th game in which the Red Devils have failed to find the net. Ruben Amorim’s side have managed to score 37 times this season, with only West Ham, Everton and the three teams in the relegation places finding the net on fewer occasions.
Both Joshua Zirkzee, a £37m summer capture from Bologna, and Rasmus Hoijlund, a £72m signing from Atalanta, have found the net just six times between them this season in the league while being fit for almost every game that the Red Devils have played. At around £18m per Premier League goal between the pair, that’s not exactly the value for money Sir Jim Ratcliffe will be after.
This is expected to be United’s lowest scoring season in the Premier League era unless they can score at least 12 more goals in eight games while they have only just surpassed their lowest ever tally in a league season (36) which was set way back in 1894 in just a 30-game campaign.
United have fallen lower than many fans could have ever anticipated in the post Fergie era and if talk of winning a league title by 2028 is ever going to be realised, the club must once again start turning the Theatre of Dreams into at least a place where fans can get up and celebrate the odd goal or two.
Man Utd target 6ft 7in giant to try and fill striker void
Of all the strikers to have played for Man United, in the last decade only four of them have exceeded the 15+ goal mark in the Premier League. The one that boasted the best goals-to-games ratio before his injury problems was Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Overall, the Swedish sensation scored 17 goals in 33 appearances across all competitions for United while also winning the League Cup, Europa League and Community Shield. He was blessed with exceptional strength, aerial qualities, bags of agility and an incredible composure in front of goal. The profile of Ibrahimovic is exactly what the club need, and according to Sun Sport, they are now keeping tabs on a striker who idolises ‘The Lion’ in Udinese’s Lorenzo Lucca.
Lucca is a 6ft 7in striker from Italy who has scored 18 Serie A goals over the past two seasons since returning to his homeland from Dutch heavyweights Ajax.
“Ibrahimovic is my idol, I hope to meet him and I think it will be like this. I saw that he always goes to the sidelines or on the bench, I hope to meet him because it would be the first time. I will try to have a few words with him,” he said.
The thing I like most is his character, making sure that he has become the best with so much humility and a bit of healthy competitiveness, always respecting others.” He added.
Udinese are looking for just £25million this summer for a striker who would become one of the Premier League’s tallest strikers since Peter Crouch retired in 2019. Juventus and AC Milan are also thought to be keeping tabs on the powerful forward, while United, who are thought to be keen on a target man, are also keeping tabs on Liam Delap from Ipswich Town.
In an ideal world, you’d expect Ruben Amorim would hope to reunite with his former Sporting CP goal-machine Victor Gyokeres. However, with the ex-Coventry City striker now looking he could instead join Arsenal, a move for Lucca could be the Red Devils’ best bet. Signing a striker is a notoriously difficult process, and the race to sign the rangy forward will be far from straight forward, but he could be the ideal marksman to catalyse the sleeping giant’s return to their former glories.