Football News: Possible Strikers Manchester United Could Sign

I hear a lot about Manchester United needing to sign a 20+ goals a season striker, but there just aren't many around. Last season across Europe's top 5 leagues, the only strikers to score 20+ league goals were:

Mbappe, Lewandowski, Kane, Retegui, Isak, Haaland, Budimir, Schick, Guirassy, Sorloth, and Chris Wood. That's it. There were a couple more players like Salah, Dembele and Mbeumo who got 20 goals but are more wide forwards rather than centre forwards.

Looking at that list, there are some who just aren't available to us (Lewandowski, Mbappe, Kane, Isak and Haaland). Then of the others bar Retegui they are all 29 or older and have typically had a standout season rather than that being the norm for them. Most of them won't score 20+ league goals again.

Beyond Europe's top 5 leagues there are a couple of standout strikers who you would say it's a fairly safe bet that they will get around 20 league goals next year. Osimhen, Gyökeres being the two.

So that really leaves a shortlist of three strikers who, if signed it could be expected that they get around 20 league goals next season:

1. Osimhen wants around 400k per week, which automatically rules him out.

2. Gyökeres would be willing to join, but would prefer a team playing in the UEFA Champions League.

3. Retegui could be an interesting option, but would cost a lot and is less proven than the other two.

Beyond those three players any other striker signing would need to have a career best season to score 20 English Premier League goals next season. There are some talented younger strikers we could potentially go for, Ekitike, Sesko, and Ramos being the most glamorous names on that list. Yet these are young players who will need time and patience to adjust and step up. They will also be very expensive as they are the premium young options.

You then have other young strikers who are also highly talented but are seen as slightly less polished and cheaper options, players like Aghehowa, Stassin, and Thierno Barry. These guys might be a lower risk due to their lower cost, but they will likely take more time to be ready.

The final option would be to sign short term or stop gap player. This could be an older player like Schick who might be fine for a few years, or a younger but lower quality option who will do a job for a year and then be good back up after we sign a top class striker next summer. Players like Jonathan David, Mateta or Mikautadze for example.

Given our need, I think it makes sense to push for Gyökeres if Arsenal don't make a move for him. He represents the best available option and we cannot let pride stop us from signing him if possible. Beyond Gyökeres I'd personally avoid options like Ekitike and Sesko. Not because I don't think they are talented, but because I think they will be far too expensive for the impact they will be able to have next season.

The next options I'd personally look at are Goncalo Ramos and Sami Aghehowa. Ramos might be available for a reasonable price with him not really being considered first choice at PSG. But anything more than 50m and I'd probably look elsewhere. Aghehowa is young but looks very polished for his age, again I wouldn't go beyond 50m for him.

Beyond them and we come tumbling down the list. I'd be more inclined to go for someone like Thierno Barry over someone like Mateta as he has a lower release clause (around 30m) and has long term potential, compared to Mateta who while he'd be a fairly safe bet given his EPL experience, he'd still cost 45-50m. Which is too much for what should be a squad player in a year or twos time.

What I really take away from this is that unless we sign Gyökeres, then whoever we do sign we need to temper expectations on them. If they get 15 league goals then that would be a great achievement next season. 10-12 should be the realistic aim. Which is why signing players like Cunha and potentially Mbeumo makes so much sense. In reality we aren't likely to get a 20 goal a season striker, so we need to make sure we have players who can spread the goal scoring burden amongst themselves.

Written by Shappy June 18 2025 10:59:12