Manchester United still have a lot of work to do in the transfer market, even after making a good start to their summer rebuild with the acquisitions of Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha.
Ruben Amorim’s new pair of attackers should bring goals and creativity, but the Red Devils are still lacking a convincing centre-forward.
Rasmus Hojlund had a terrible campaign, scoring only four Premier League goals, and although Joshua Zirkzee found form towards the end of the season he’s not the right man to lead the line.
Shifting market
United’s summer began with a snubbing from Liam Delap, who moved to Chelsea from relegated Ipswich Town, and the club are yet to move to another number 9.
With the weeks racing by, top strikers across Europe are finding new clubs. Viktor Gyokeres is set to join Arsenal and Victor Osimhen is on his way back to Galatasary.
While United were probably never seriously pushing for either player they reportedly did make a late push for Hugo Ekitike, who has now signed for Liverpool from Eintracht Frankfurt.
The Red Devils are therefore pivoting to names lower down their initial list of targets and have held fresh talks over Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins, but the door remains open for a more leftfield recruit.
Arokodare interest
One such lesser-known name is Genk’s lethal Nigerian striker Tolu Arokodare, who has been making waves in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League.
His impressive showing last season bagged him the Ebony Shoe, an award given to the best player of African descent in Belgium’s top flight.
He picked up the gong after scoring 21 goals and providing six assists for Genk and his performances placed him on the radar of top sides across Europe, including United.
And the chasing pack, which includes everyone from Real Madrid and Atalanta to Fulham and Burnley, have been given encouragement by Genk’s acquisition of Swedish striker Aaron Bibout.
Cheaper option
According to Soccernet, Bibout’s arrival indicates that Genk are “preparing for life without” Arokodare, whose value is thought to be €18m.
However with two years left on his contract and a host of clubs interested, the report suggests Genk could look for more like €25m for the Super Eagles star.
He is certainly in a different price bracket to the likes of Watkins and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko, so is an intriguing option for INEOS. But despite his low price tag Soccernet note that “no club has made headway to sign him yet”, meaning the door is currently open for United to swoop in.
Feature image Gualter Fatia via Getty Images
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
