Following their 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on New Year’s Eve Manchester United finally broke into the Premier League top four for the first time this season.
Standing now two points behind third-placed Newcastle, the Red Devils have a game in hand while arch-rivals Manchester City are only four points adrift in the second spot.
The way things are progressing for the Manchester club, the upcoming game week could see the club narrow the gap further should the results favor them.
With the Magpies facing a difficult test against league leaders Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, title holders City will be en-route to Stamford Bridge to face off with Graham Potter’s Chelsea.
Should United emerge victorious over Bournemouth, the Red Devils could advance to within one point of Pep Guardiola’s City in third ahead of the crunch Manchester derby at Old Trafford on January 14.
However, despite things looking positive at the moment, the big question remaining is why United are yet to pursue a new striker despite having parted company with wantaway Cristiano Ronaldo in late November as the hierarchy have had enough time to factor in the winter transfer window business pro-actively and signed a new striker for Erik ten Hag on January 1 itself.
To that end, PSV Eindhoven’s Cody Gakpo had been an obvious prime target before Liverpool edged them out finally as the Red Devils were unable to match their fierce rivals’ financial package. All things considered, United should still have planned better with a contingency plan in place rather than waiting until January to evaluate other striker options.
A new center-forward should be signed in time for the vital games against City and Arsenal coming up soon, failing which all the hard work done could be toast.
It’s clear also that there has been an over-dependence on Marcus Rashford lately which again stresses the speedy need for United to have a new striker that can aid and abet the cause. As an additional concern, Anthony Martial’s inconsistency does not help in any way to alleviate the cause.
The Red Devils must land a new striker as soon as possible.