It is seven-and-a-half years now since Manchester United last signed a centre-forward who arrived at Old Trafford with a proven record of scoring goals in the Premier League and his best years ahead of him.
By the time Romelu Lukaku pitched up at United for £75 million in July 2017, a couple of months after his 24th birthday, the Belgium striker had already managed 85 goals in 176 appearances in England’s top flight for West Bromwich Albion and Everton.
Lukaku never did quite win the hearts of the Old Trafford faithful but, when he eventually left for Inter Milan two seasons later, he had scored 42 goals in 96 appearances in all competitions for United, 28 of them in the Premier League, the sort of numbers fans can only dream about now. What they would give for a 24-year-old Lukaku leading the line for the second half of this miserable season.
The Lukaku reference is pertinent because, as another transfer window closes with United failing to address that glaring problem at the top end of the pitch, he stands alone over the past 12 years as an example of the club signing a striker entering his prime years with plenty of resale value and an encouraging body of work behind him.
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Either side of Lukaku, United’s recruitment of strikers has fallen into three distinct brackets: the ageing, costly superstar past his best (Radamel Falcao, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alexis Sánchez, Edinson Cavani, Cristiano Ronaldo); the left-field temporary stop-gap (Odion Ighalo, Wout Weghorst); and the raw, unproven but still expensive youngster (Anthony Martial, Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee).
None of which has worked out for them or offered any sort of successful, long-term solution. United’s recruitment has been a major problem for so long now but they seem to have a particular blind spot when it comes to signing centre-forwards.
Tricky road ahead
Ruben Amorim inherited all manner of problems when he replaced Erik ten Hag as United’s head coach in November but a lack of goals was principal among them.
It is an issue that has been staring them in the face for two-and-a-half seasons so for the January window to come and go with no reinforcements, and Marcus Rashford and Antony out of the door, is both a concern and a gamble.
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United are on course to finish the Premier League campaign with 44 goals, based on current averages after 28 in 24 matches, the fifth-lowest total in the division. To put that into some context, Luton Town went down last season having scored 52 goals and Leicester City the year before having found the net 51 times. Liverpool, the current league leaders, have scored exactly twice as many goals as United this term.
Yet United are banking on Hojlund and Zirkzee – with five league goals between them, one fewer than Scott McTominay had in the league by this stage last season – to get them over the line and back into Europe somehow over the coming months.
Beyond that, Amorim will look to Alejandro Garnacho, who has spent the last few weeks being courted by Napoli and Chelsea and uncertain to stay at Old Trafford, and Amad Diallo, now United’s go-to forward and top league scorer with six goals but until a few months ago a peripheral figure under Ten Hag.
All things considered, it is a deeply underwhelming situation for United fans, even accounting for the financial constraints and profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) challenges with which the club are now wrestling after years of transfer mistakes.
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Amorim certainly has his work cut out, although United would argue that anything they had spent in the winter window would have reduced their budget in the summer when they expect to have a broader scope and better opportunities to recruit players that fit with their long-term plans.
For all the anger United supporters may feel over the lack of a replacement for Rashford, who has joined Aston Villa on loan, there was at least some encouragement to take from the club not allowing their pants to be pulled down yet again by Bayern Munich.
Talks over a loan deal for Mathys Tel collapsed with United refusing to pay the outlandish £5 million loan fee Bayern were demanding for an unproven 19-year-old with no goals in 14 appearances this season and whom the German giants would ideally have preferred to sell.
Thomas Tuchel was not convinced about the France Under-21 international – who has instead joined Tottenham Hotspur on loan – and neither, clearly, is his successor as Bayern coach, Vincent Kompany.
At the same time, this does not escape the fact that United are now even lighter up front. Amorim has a huge battle on his hands in the months ahead to find a way to get his goal-shy team scoring.