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Manchester United will go back into the market to sign a striker in January, with the club currently short of forward options.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sanctioned the summer sale of Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan, and allowed Alexis Sanchez to go on loan to the same club, on the understanding that there would be suitable replacements but, in the end, nobody was brought in, leaving the club very thin of senior striking options.
That left them over-reliant on Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, with only teenage striker Mason Greenwood as back-up, And with both of his main options injured after the defeat to West Ham and Greenwood missing with tonsillitis, the paucity of forward choices available to Solskjaer was made painfully obvious. And that was underlined further when they needed penalties to beat Rochdale in the EFL Cup on Wednesday night.
Now the club have been linked with January moves for Juventus striker Mario Mandžukić and Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembélé. Mandžukić was under consideration in the summer but at 33 years old, age was against him. However, given their limited alternatives, United have now had a re-think.
He will certainly be cheaper than Dembélé who Barcelona may be prepared to sell, but will be looking for a figure in excess of £100 million to part with him.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.