Man Utd told 'don't underestimate' flop Weghorst

Stuart Telford

• 7 Apr 2023 09:27 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester United have been linked with a host of strikers ahead of the summer transfer window, but one of Wout Weghorst's former managers thinks the Dutchman is a ready-made solution.

It is widely understood that Man Utd will make signing a No.9 a priority next summer, regardless of whether Sheikh Jassim, Sir Jim Ratcliffe or the Glazer family are in ownership of the club at that point.

Harry Kane, Victor Osimhen, Randal Kolo Muani and Goncalo Ramos are among the players who have been linked, with the first three likely to cost at least €100 million.

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The need for a new striker seems clear: Weghorst has only scored two goals since arriving on loan from Burnley, via Besiktas, while United's 27-goal top scorer Marcus Rashford does his best work from the left wing.

But his former Burnley manager Sean Dyche, who takes his Everton side to Old Trafford on Saturday, thinks United should give Weghorst their trust for a bit longer.

Dyche: 'I certainly wouldn't underestimate him'

"He's a very good player," he said. "He worked very hard, very professional and different managers look for different things. I certainly wouldn't underestimate him as a player. I hope he's not such a good pro if he plays on Saturday!"

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Weghorst was dropped for Jadon Sancho as United beat Brentford 1-0 on Wednesday, with Rashford getting the only goal of the game from the point of the attack.

There is no option to make Weghorst's loan from Burnley permanent at the end of the season, but the 6'6" striker is currently valued at €18.3m by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm.

Erik ten Hag has previously said that he would like to keep Weghorst at the club.

"Of course," he told reporters recently when asked about the idea of Weghorst staying permanently.

"He's really contributing to the performance of this team after Christmas, we played 25 games and we lost two games. So you can see and he played nearly almost all those games. He was really a part of that success."