Man Utd's Darwin Nunez: Ten Hag wants striker WORSE than Weghorst

Robin Bairner

• 13 Jul 2023 10:27 BST
• 4 min read

Manchester United’s hunt for a striker continues, with Erik ten Hag having scoured a range of top-quality options from Harry Kane to Victor Osimhen, Randal Kolo-Muani and, most recently, Rasmus Hojlund.

The Man Utd manager’s search has taken him to Portugal, where he has had his eye on Goncalo Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo’s heir at international level, but it may be that he is forced to pick up a more budget option from the Primeira Liga.

The Glazers’ reluctance to accept a takeover bid has had the Old Trafford side in stasis for weeks, thwarting the hopes of Ten Hag when it comes to landing a world-class striker.

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Instead, there are rumours building that United will move for 30-year-old hitman Mehdi Taremi, who finished top of the scoring pile in Portugal last season ahead of more celebrated figures such as Ramos and Joao Mario. Indeed, he was the only player in the league to breach the 20-goal barrier and led Porto’s offence by being the only member of the squad to hit double figures.

The player’s agent is fuelling this talk. Borna Khoramdel posted an image on Instagram of a Man Utd badge, with Old Trafford tagged as his location, more than hinting he is in transfer talks with the club.

On the face of it, a deal is possible. Taremi, who was briefly linked to Arsenal this summer, only has a year left on his Porto contract, and with an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of under €10 million, he would fit into what meagre budget Ten Hag has to work with.

But that does not mean he is a viable solution for Man Utd’s ongoing No.9 problems.

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Man Utd shouldn’t consider Taremi

FootballTransfers’ data analytics partners SciSports, indeed, suggest that this move is a waste of time from United’s perspective.

Indeed, the SciSkills matrix, which is calculated using hundreds of in-game data points, shows that Taremi is, in fact, an inferior player to the much-maligned figure of Wout Weghorst, who failed to score a Premier League goal on loan from Burnley. Like Taremi, Weghorst arrived having been relatively prolific in a weaker league, having bagged eight in 16 appearances for Besiktas in Turkey.

And, of course, there is recent history of Portugal’s leading marksman having struggled to make an instant impact in the Premier League – surely what Man Utd would demand of a player the wrong side of 30 who is signed on a short-term basis to solve a pressing issue.

Darwin Nunez scored 26 for Benfica in 2021/22 before making a move to Liverpool that could cost the Anfield club up to €100m.

His first season in England was disappointing, with 15 goals in all competitions.

United, of course, are not looking at the same price point as Liverpool were with Nunez – reports suggest around €25m – but the evidence suggests that Taremi will struggle to solve Ten Hag’s conundrum and instead could quickly become a makeweight on the bench, adding to the manager’s headaches instead of solving them.

The Manchester Evening News has debunked the claims that Khoramdel was at Old Trafford on Wednesday, so Man Utd may well dodge this particular bullet.