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An ex-Manchester United manager has slammed the club’s recruitment and believes they have gone six years without replacing their last proper goalscorer.
Ron Atkinson, who won two FA Cups at United between 1981 and 1986, identified Swedish legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the most recent top-class striker at Old Trafford – and he left the club for LA Galaxy in 2018.
Atkinson told The Daily Star that “the standout gap in the team, for a long time, has been a top-of-the-range front player, and there’s been an awful lot of money spent on like-for-like in defence and midfield.”
United have splashed out over £600m during Erik ten Hag’s reign to fit the Dutchman out with a squad intended to compete for the biggest prizes.
But despite all that expenditure, the only out-and-out number 9 at the club is 21-year-old Rasmus Hojlund, who arrived as a relatively unknown entity for around £72m after just one season at the top level in Italy.
He was joined this summer by another unproven talent from Serie A, Joshua Zirkzee, who labels himself as a ‘9.5’ rather than a traditional centre-forward after scoring 12 goals in 37 games for Bologna last season.
There’s no surprise, then, that Atkinson finds that “the big omission has been a top goalscorer. That should’ve been their priority. They are the lifeline of any team. Over the last 18 months this has stood out like a sore thumb.
“Thinking about it, the last natural striker we had, who took his chances, was Zlatan Ibrahimovic. And he was about 70!”
Ibrahimovic bagged an impressive 29 goals in 53 games at United, including 17 in the Premier League – the towering Swede would have reached 20 in the competition had he not been sidelined through injury.
Since his departure, United made bewildering loan moves for Odion Ighalo and Wout Weghorst, neither of which worked out, and signed an aging Edinson Cavani who largely underwhelmed.
Atkinson acknowledged that the striker market has not been flush with talent, but that United should have changed their priorities: “I’m not saying it’s easy to find top strikers but, in the end, maybe you spend your whole budget to get one… like when [Harry] Kane was available.”
After being strongly linked with United, Kane eventually swapped Tottenham Hotspur for Bayern Munich last year, and since his move to Bavaria has bagged a world-class 54 goals in 54 games.
It has also been reported that Ten Hag vetoed the signing of Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins in favour of a move for Hojlund in a transfer gamble which is yet to pay off.
Featured image Richard Heathcote via Getty Images
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