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Well, here we are again. Another summer where Manchester United need to add a striker to their ranks. Not for the first time, the Red Devils have dawdled and dallied going about such business.
The 2024-25 season will forever be an unforgettable one for those of a United persuasion for all the wrong reasons. They finished a club-record low of 15th in the الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز, lost the Europa League final to a Tottenham team that somehow finished beneath them domestically, and found scoring goals the most difficult of tasks.
Ruben Amorim, appointed as successor to Erik ten Hag last November, has yet to properly stamp his imprint on this team. If anything, he’s taken them backwards when that seemed an impossible feat. The positives to work with are he has a vision for how he wants United to play – albeit there are major flaws to iron out in the rough and tumble of English football – and they have become a pain for the big boys to play against, retaining a defensive resolution when facing teams of far superior quality.
How much United can achieve in 2025-26, though, will likely depend on their scoring threat. If they throw the same wayward punches as last season, they will find themselves strewn across the canvas again and again. They have already sought to improve in the final third with the additions of Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, but they still need a No.9 to bring it all together.
In recent days, reports claimed the United top brass had narrowed that search down to two quite different options: Aston Villa‘s Ollie Watkins, and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko. And while it broke on Wednesday that they have opened talks with the latter it is Watkins that they should be looking to get over the line.
Well, here we are again. Another summer where Manchester United need to add a striker to their ranks. Not for the first time, the Red Devils have dawdled and dallied going about such business.
The 2024-25 season will forever be an unforgettable one for those of a United persuasion for all the wrong reasons. They finished a club-record low of 15th in the Premier League, lost the Europa League final to a Tottenham team that somehow finished beneath them domestically, and found scoring goals the most difficult of tasks.
Ruben Amorim, appointed as successor to Erik ten Hag last November, has yet to properly stamp his imprint on this team. If anything, he’s taken them backwards when that seemed an impossible feat. The positives to work with are he has a vision for how he wants United to play – albeit there are major flaws to iron out in the rough and tumble of English football – and they have become a pain for the big boys to play against, retaining a defensive resolution when facing teams of far superior quality.
How much United can achieve in 2025-26, though, will likely depend on their scoring threat. If they throw the same wayward punches as last season, they will find themselves strewn across the canvas again and again. They have already sought to improve in the final third with the additions of Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, but they still need a No.9 to bring it all together.
In recent days, reports claimed the United top brass had narrowed that search down to two quite different options: Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins, and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko. And while it broke on Wednesday that they have opened talks with the latter, it is Watkins that they should be looking to get over the line.
There is an intangible burden that comes with playing for United, even when they haven’t won the title in over a decade now. It is clearly still too heavy for their current crop of strikers.
It took Rasmus Hojlund a whopping 15 games to register his first Premier League goal in 2023-24, and though he went on a tear shortly thereafter, he finished on only 10 for the season, 16 in all competitions thanks to some futile heroics in the Champions League. He failed to kick on in his sophomore year, tallying four in the league and 10 across 52 games in total.
Much of Hojlund’s game revolves around wrestling opposition centre-backs and providing as little goal threat as possible – he is in the bottom eighth percentile for strikers in Europe’s top five leagues for shots taken per 90 minutes with a mere 1.65.
Joshua Zirkzee had an even worse debut campaign than Hojlund did, returning just three goals in the Premier League and seven in 49 altogether. After billing himself as a ‘9.5’, something between the No.9 and No.10, he failed to demonstrate the best parts of either role.
At times, Amorim resorted to playing midfielders up front, including Bruno Fernandes and, more surprisingly, Kobbie Mainoo. Teenage sensation Chido Obi was also fast-tracked into the first team such was the desperation to find anyone who could score more regularly.
This isn’t to say that Hojlund and Zirkzee are bad players or that their careers are doomed to remain on this trajectory. You don’t have to look too hard to see United rejects making a living for themselves in sunnier circumstances. In these specific cases, perhaps this misfiring duo are just more suitable to playing in Italy having shone for Atalanta and Bologna, respectively, though there’s something also to be said about making the leap from those clubs with little scrutiny on them to one of the biggest across all of sport.
Were United to sign Sesko, he would almost have to tank his way to the bottom in order to outdo Hojlund and Zirkzee in the liability sweepstakes. Even if he were to tear his ACL or suffer an equivalent injury this summer, he could probably still be able to recover in time and leapfrog them in the goal standings before the end of the season.
It is, though, important to view United’s striker search with context. Sure, they are shouting from the rooftops that they want to build for the long term, but that doesn’t mean that every signing they make has to be approaching their prime rather than already in it. Sesko, who turned 22 in May, still has kinks to his game that need an environment away from the most intense of spotlights if he is to effectively work on them. Hojlund was 20 when he signed for United, Zirkzee a snip older at 23, and both have gone backwards since.
Of course, Sesko has huge potential. That’s why Arsenal courted him for so long, but it’s also partly why they pivoted to Viktor Gyokeres, even beyond the financials. He is not a sure-fire thing by any means. United may not be fighting for the title in the way that the Gunners will be, though they will still be under the same excruciating pressure all the same. For his part, Sesko’s development doesn’t need that double-edged sword hanging over him at Old Trafford.
That brings us back round to Watkins, who has scored double figures of goals for nine successive seasons across three clubs and three divisions. No matter where he’s been or what role he’s operated in – being converted from a winger to a centre-forward by Thomas Frank at Brentford in 2019 – he has delivered the goods. Returns of 14, 11, 15, 19 and 16 have come in the Premier League, and he notably finished with a division-high 32 goal contributions in 2023-24, taking home the Playmaker Award for his 13 assists. Watkins is an unquestionable, constant menace be he finding the net himself or bringing others into play.
Since breaking into the Exeter City first team in 2016, here is the list of amount of league games Watkins has missed per season: one, one, five, zero, one, three, one, one, zero. He has also been able to juggle domestic action with that on the continent, playing 12 times in both of Villa’s last two campaigns in Europe. Watkins is as safe a fitness bet as Cristiano Ronaldo or Joe Wicks or Mr Motivator. Granted, the issues with Hojlund and Zirkzee aren’t their availability (if anything they play way too much) and Sesko doesn’t have a sketchy record of injuries either; it’s more that Watkins is a seasoned professional who can trusted as figurehead for a team of such expectation.
When Arsenal previously and briefly chased Watkins during the January window, it was because they believed he would be able to fit in seamlessly straight away and keep up his end of the scoring bargain. They thought he was as close to a guarantee of games and goals as there could be. United would be wise to realise the same and alter their plans to sign him.
Bringing in Watkins is more likely to prove fruitful to United given his prior relationship with Mbeumo, as the two struck up a friendship during one season together at Brentford. This was the very same year that Watkins made the transition to a central striker having almost exclusively played his entire career to that point on the wing or in the hole, while Mbeumo was a fresh 20-year-old arrival in the west London suburb from French side Troyes.
The Bees had to completely rework the dynamics of their frontline. They had sold star striker Neal Maupay to Brighton for a cool £25m, and instead of signing a direct replacement, chose to bring in Mbeumo instead. Watkins and Said Benrahma spent most of 2018-19 swapping flanks, but had more settled positions in this new-look setup, with the Algerian this time fixed on the left.
Frank and the club’s plan worked a treat. Mbeumo was the perfect third prong of their attack, and Watkins’ nose for goals and wrecking havoc saw him emerge as the Championship‘s second-highest scorer, with his total of 25 second only to Aleksandar Mitrovic’s 26. Brentford qualified for the play-offs but were beaten in the final by Fulham, and Watkins was sold to Villa for approximately £30m. Mbeumo would go on to form even closer bonds with Watkins’ successors, Ivan Toney and Yoane Wissa, but the England international is still held in extremely high regard.
During United’s summer tour of the United States, Mbeumo was asked for his thoughts on Watkins. “He is like a complete striker who can do a lot of things,” he endorsed. “He can drop, or go in behind and I think he just is really good for me or for a winger because you can use his space to fit in there. He can combine as well, so yeah, he’s really good.”
The mechanics behind Amorim’s attack for 2025-26 will take some adjustment. Cunha and Mbeumo are proven Premier League players, but will still need to build an on-pitch connection to understand one another. A familiar face in Watkins could make that transition all the more seamless for the man who cost United £71m.
The pushback on United’s interest in Watkins largely relates to his age and how much they would have to pay for a player who is unlikely to remain in his prime two or three years down the line. This critique is not without reason and is a valid concern, particularly given how the club have operated so carelessly in the market before.
There are plenty of examples to sift through. Casemiro, 30 at the time, was brought in for an initial £60m plus a further £10m in add-ons in 2022 when United sorely needed a defensive midfielder and an experienced head. He performed well in his first season, but his disciplinary record let him down, missing seven games through suspension. Only one year later, the five-time Champions League winner was being told that the ‘football has left him’. Casemiro put in some more promising displays during the second half of 2024-25, though not enough to turn United’s poor form around.
The Brazilian is not the only questionable veteran that United have signed and then struggled to shift on their own terms. Raphael Varane, Alexis Sanchez and Bastian Schweinsteiger are some others who were signed with risk, and they all carried a far greater reputation than Watkins.
It’s easy to sit here and say the same kind of falloff won’t occur with Watkins because of how we feel about him in this moment, but there is a repeated history of United making this sort of purchase and then having a feeling of buyer’s remorse. The case in favour of the 29-year-old here is about the immediate impact he should have and the team’s needs.
Amorim needs results in the coming months, there’s no two ways about it. He cannot keep going on labelling his side ‘the worst’ in United’s history as he gets nearer to his one-year anniversary at the club. It’s a miracle he managed to escape prolonged scrutiny for their 2024-25 season, with the club as a whole absorbing most of the blame.
To get those wins on the board, Amorim’s new striker has to arrive with as little immediate risk as possible. They have to score goals and provide for others, to build a rapport with Cunha, Mbeumo and Fernandes. There’s a small chance United will look as toothless if Watkins is leading from the front every week.
Luke Shaw, who has been widely tipped to leave United, has recently spoken glowingly of Amorim and the culture he is trying to build: “It’s not hard to see from the outside what it’s been like. A lot of the time I’ve been here over the last few years, it’s been extremely negative. It can be quite toxic, the environment; it’s not healthy at all. We need an environment that’s healthy, that’s positive, that’s got good energy and happiness.
“I think when you have all those things, you feel free, and you express yourself more on the pitch. Things come together and I think, especially this pre-season, us as a team, I feel like the bond is growing and growing. I feel like in my time here, it’s probably the closest I’ve felt with the squad. I think the atmosphere is really good and extremely positive. Hopefully, that can continue.”
Granted, it’s very easy to say all this in pre-season and when you’re a couple of months removed from losing nearly every week, but the recognition of wrongdoing and desire for change is there. United need a revolution today as much as they need one in full flow in three or five years, and that’s why their pursuit of Watkins makes most sense.
