Manchester United were crying out for attacking additions in January given the poor form of strikers Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee.
Instead, Marcus Rashford’s loan departure was greenlit while INEOS failed to sign anybody on deadline day leaving Ruben Amorim with a mountain to climb during the second half of the campaign.
The Dane has not scored in 13 consecutive games now while the summer signing has managed a meagre four goals in 35 appearances.
Clearly, Amorim is not impressed with the duo, because of which he opted to start midfielder Kobbie Mainoo as a false nine in the Premier League game against Crystal Palace last weekend.
Zirkzee, Rasmus lacking confidence and goals
Which is why there is a growing clamour for the Portuguese to hand red-hot academy striker Chido Obi his senior debut to address the severe lack of goals.
Amorim was asked the same during the pre-match press conference ahead of the FA Cup tie against Leicester City and the 40-year-old made it clear he does not want to throw the 17-year-old into the deep end at this juncture.
Marcus Rashford’s debut in the Europa League had come under similar trying conditions but for now, Amorim has no plans of repeating the trick with the former Arsenal prodigy.
“He’s doing his job, he’s improving, he’s playing in the youth teams, and we have also other players that can play in that position.
“Rasmus [Hojlund] and Josh [Zirkzee] are there, we bought these two players, so we need to improve them and then sometimes the confidence can change a player.
Amorim doesn’t want to rush things with Chido Obi
“We will see in the end of the season, but, until then, we have two strikers that can score goals. They proved it in the past. Let’s see if we can improve as a team, to help them to score goals.”
The wonderkid has been on fire since his move to Old Trafford, netting nine goals in 10 games while also registering one assist. He has already made his full debut for the U21s.
Maybe towards the end of the campaign, or if the aforementioned duo’s travails continue, Amorim might change his mind. Hopefully, Zirkzee and Hojlund can start firing or else this season will become a write-off.
At best, the 20-time English league champions can hope for a top-half finish in the league but both the FA Cup and Europa League are up for grabs and Amorim needs goals from somewhere if he is to clinch any form of silverware this term.
Feature image Matt McNulty via Getty Images
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Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
