Ten Hag's striker hint points to Man Utd's next No.9

Stuart Telford

• 15 Apr 2023 12:32 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester United are in the market for a new No.9, with Harry Kane, Victor Osimhen and Randal Kolo Muani linked, and Erik ten Hag's latest comments hint at which one he wants to go for…

United's need for a new striker is clear. Wout Weghorst has categorically failed to replace Cristiano Ronaldo's goals at the point of their attack since joining on loan from Burnley, via Besiktas, in January, while 27-goal top scorer Marcus Rashford prefers starting out wide.

The Red Devils have been linked with a whole hosts of attackers, with Ronaldo's potential Portugal successor Goncalo Ramos another name in the mix, but of the aforementioned three who are understood to be the frontrunners, Osimhen would now seem to be the most likely.

READ: Man Utd face fresh rival for Osimhen

What did Ten Hag say?

"Everyone's different, obviously, but for a striker the main thing is to score goals by any method, that's so far ahead of anything else," Ten Hag told Sky Sports when asked about his striker search.

"We need a striker who scores goals because we have ability in the team to put balls in the box, so we need a striker to finish.

"[But] we have to build a new future and we need a striker who not only scores goals but contributes by linking up play very well and pressing, which is very important."

READ: Paul Scholes' doubts about Man Utd signing Harry Kane

Two strands of Ten Hag's comments stand out - the need for a penalty-box finisher and building for the future.

Kane certainly ticks the first box - the England captain has 23 Premier League goals this season, second only to Manchester City goal-machine Erling Haaland - but at 30 years of age in July, he might not satisfy the latter.

Kolo Muani is only 24, meanwhile, but Eintracht Frankfurt's France attacker is just as likely to be found lining up on the wing as he is in the penalty box, even if he has scored 12 Bundesliga goals this season.

And that leaves Osimhen. The Nigerian is firing Napoli to a first Scudetto in 33 years with his Serie A-high 21 goals this season, and is also every inch the penalty box predator, with his average of seven touches in the opposition area per 90 minutes putting him in the 95th percentile among strikers across Italy.