After Manchester United's defeat in the Premier League last weekend against a fractured Spurs team, the question of the striker problem has been everpresent in peoples' minds. Gary Neville aptly summed up how baffling the situation is.
For United not to score when Spurs don't have three of their first-choice back four, I'm amazed.
The loss saw United sink down to 15th in the Premier League table, and a lack of goals is one of the biggest reasons why.
One person who has a great insight on where the problems began is the club's former coach Benni McCarthy, who served alongside Ruben Amorim's predecessor, Erik Ten Hag. Benni McCarthy was speaking at the launch of Ladbrokes’ “Gaffer of all Accas” this week and provided a view on what could have been if the coaches got their way.
He said Ten Hag had identified Kane as the club's main transfer target when the England striker was getting ready to leave Tottenham Hotspur after the 2022-23 season. United were seen as a possible destination but in the end Kane moved to Bayern Munich. McCarthy says he'd have stayed in England if Ten Hag had his way.
Harry Kane was Erik’s No. 1 target. Erik really wanted him. Randal Kolo Muani was also very high on that list. Victor Osimhen was also on that list. But I felt that if you're going to want to spend that kind of money – £100 million plus – then you want the complete package. And Harry Kane, for me, was the complete package.
Harry Kane was one of the Premier League's greatest scorers. His 213 goals put him at 2nd place in the all-time rankings, just behind Alan Shearer, and five goals ahead of number 3, United's all-time top scorer, Wayne Rooney.
Now, he has not slowed down a bit. At 31 years of age, Kane has 21 goals in 20 games for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. While he was the complete package and could have certainly ushered United into a new era. Unfortunately, not everyone agreed with McCarthy and Ten Hag's vision. Instead the club signed Rasmus Hojlund that summer from Atalanta.
Unfortunately, the club didn't see it that way. They looked at it as Rasmus Hojlund, in the long run, would be a more prized asset than investing in both Rasmus and Harry Kane. So we stopped pursuing Kane, and we ended up getting just Rasmus.
With 13 games remaining in this season's campaign, United now face high-flying Everton who are unbeaten in their last five league games.
Amorim's side desperately need something to change in order to revive a difficult Premier League run. Now that youth star Amad Diallo is out for the rest of the season, the Red Devils are looking for someone to take his place and make a difference to revitalise the club into a better position.
