Ten Hag’s dream No.9? Prolific Man Utd target scores TITLE-WINNING goal

Robin Bairner

• 27 May 2023 20:23 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag’s search for a centre-forward is set to go beyond the end of the season, with the Red Devils struggling to gain traction on any particular target.

Harry Kane and Victor Osimhen of Tottenham and Napoli respectively have been the two players most cited in conjunction with the Old Trafford club, yet Goncalo Ramos gave the Red Devils a timely reminder of his qualities as Benfica sealed the Portuguese league title on Saturday.

Ten Hag is known to be after a pure No.9 and Ramos has been linked with Man Utd since the autumn as he enjoyed a devastating breakout season with Benfica after coming out from the shadow of Darwin Nunez, who left for Liverpool.

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Ramos is exactly what Ten Hag wants

Though Ramos has recently passed through a sticky spell, he has 27 goals in 47 appearances this season and provides the type of presence in the penalty box that Ten Hag craves.

The forward is strong and can act as a target man, but while on-loan Wout Weghorst can do this, Ramos has the additional dimension to his game of being a strong finisher. This was underlined on Saturday as he sent Benfica to the Portuguese title.

Needing only to avoid defeat against Santa Clara to win the league, Ramos struck after seven minutes with a powerful header to set his team on track. He showed clever off-the-ball movement to peel off his marker in the box, while his finish was one of a confident forward and not the struggling player he has sometimes appeared in recent weeks.

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Benfica ultimately fended off Porto, who won easily against 10-man Vitoria Guimaraes. The Lisbon club ran out 3-0 winners over Santa Clara, with Rafa Silva and Alejandro Grimaldo also on target.

Ten Hag, though, will be more interested in the big-game mentality that Goncalo Ramos displayed.

Benfica have slapped a price tag of around €100 million on the 21-year-old, which could complicate Man Utd’s hopes of landing one of European football’s breakout stars of the season.