Ruben Amorim has not ruled out the possibility of integrating academy striker Chido Obi-Martin into the Manchester United first team squad this season.
Obi-Martin, 17, joined United from Arsenal's academy in the summer and has scored nine goals in 11 appearances for the club's junior sides this season.
United's attack has been halved since the start of the campaign, with Jadon Sancho, Antony, Marcus Rashford and rookie Ethan Wheatley allowed to leave on loan. The club decided against moving for a new forward in the winter transfer window as they did not want a mere stop-gap solution.
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Rashford broke into the United side as an 18-year-old in February 2016 with older strikers James Wilson and Ashley Fletcher out on loan, while Wayne Rooney, Anthony Martial and Will Keane succumbed to injury.
United's current strikers, Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee, are in the midst of long goal droughts. Hojlund has not scored in 13 games and Zirkzee has managed one goal in his last 16 appearances.
Obi-Martin only turned 17 on November 29 and Amorim stressed that improving Hojlund, 22 on Tuesday, and the 23-year-old Zirkzee remained the priority.
"He’s doing his job," Amorim said when asked about Obi-Martin. "He’s improving, he’s playing in the youth teams, and also we have other players who can play that position.
"Rasmus and Josh are there. We bought these two players, we need to improve them, and sometimes the confidence can change a player. We will see in the end of the season.
"But until then we have two strikers who can score goals, they’ve proved in the past, so let’s see if we can improve as a team to help them to score goals."
New signings Patrick Dorgu and Ayden Heaven are in contention to make their debuts in the FA Cup fourth round tie against Leicester City. Left back Dorgu, 20, arrived from Lecce last week for £25million rising to £29m while Heaven, 18, joined from Arsenal for an undisclosed compensation fee.
Amorim previously said he would have the "final word" on signings and he reiterated that was the case as he outlined the process behind the deals for Dorgu and Heaven.
"Like I said in the first day, every player who comes into the team I have to have the final word," Amorim stressed. "That was really clear in the beginning, but we do it all together.
"So I don’t point just the names, I define with Jason (Wilcox, the technical director) the profile and then we have scouting that makes the job. That is the important thing.
"Everyone has to decide, it is not just the coach today [who] decides one thing and then we change everything, and is a completely different profile. We try to find the right players with the physicality for this league, young players, hungry players. Sometimes we cannot spend a lot of money. It’s that kind of profile we look for.
"And Dorgu has that ability to play in this team, to improve. Ayden the same thing, he is young, left-footed, central defender. So the right profile for us in the moment."
