In recent weeks, Manchester United have been heavily linked with the transfer of Erling Braut Haaland and with the young hotshot’s potential arrival, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could potentially fill the void left by Romelu Lukaku.
On the chalkboard
The 26-year-old Belgian striker’s stay at Manchester United was a strange one.
He enjoyed a great start with 27 goals and 9 assists in his debut season, but he fell down the pecking order quite quickly and became overshadowed by the likes of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, especially after Solskjaer replaced Jose Mourinho.
As a result, starts became less frequent with only 22 in the Premier League last term and he later revealed his frustrations – as quoted by Metro:
“I took him (Pogba) aside and told him I was done with Manchester United. There was a feeling that Pogba and I were guilty of the fall of Manchester United.”
But the man who cost £75m to get from Everton in 2017 still left a mark on Man United during his stay, and the decision to move him on may have been a mistake – just eight players have scored for United in the Premier League this season, and Rashford is the only one to have scored more than 4 times.
Lukaku, meanwhile, has already netted 12 times in Serie A. Wth Haaland’s potential incorporation though, that void left by the Belgian could finally be filled.
Filling the void
Despite Lukaku’s own words and his eventual fall from grace at Old Trafford, he still managed to net 42 goals and 13 assists in just 96 games played for the club.
Not only that but he was the club’s second-highest goal-scorer in his last season in England, scoring 15 goals and being just one shy of Pogba’s 16.
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With him now gone, Man United are suffering in front of goal with 30 strikes in 19 games played in the Premier League. There could be further complications on the horizon too – Pogba’s future is in doubt and losing him would take even more goals out of the team.
Haaland could help fill that void and complete Solskjaer’s jigsaw with his goalscoring prowess.
After all, we’re talking here about a player who’s just 19 years of age and has already managed to score 28 goals in just 22 games played across all competitions.
Rashford is currently on fire with 14 strikes of his own, granted, but even with that being said, both he and Martial are still unknown quantities as they are yet to show the consistency needed to be star forwards at such a big club.
Last season, they tallied 25 goals between them and are on course to beat that record but as they tend to start wide and cut inside, they are not exactly pure strikers – especially when compared to the likes of Haaland and Lukaku.
Solskjaer has been missing someone of the Belgian’s mould and the young £40.5m-rated prodigy could be the answer to his problems up front.
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