Michael Owen believes Manchester United need to sign the “next Wayne Rooney” in an attempt to get over their recent struggles.
As relayed by Manchester Evening News, former Manchester United forward Michael Owen feels the Red Devils will have to sign the “next Wayne Rooney” who could be able to convert chances into goals.
Manchester United have breached all the hurdles in a rampaging mode as they are currently unbeaten in the last eight matches in all competitions. They did not have the desired start, as back-to-back defeats against Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford put Erik ten Hag’s tenure under a big question mark.
But since then, the Red Devils have settled down pretty nicely, and apart from a minor blip against Manchester City the boat has sailed for the new manager. Despite their cruising form, ten Hag has had some serious concerns over his team’s lack of ability to score goals.
Marcus Rashford has found it easy and scored against West Ham United. But all the other attackers, including a certain Cristiano Ronaldo, have been pretty ordinary and have found it difficult to put their scoring boots on.
Manchester United have been in the search of a prolific striker, and Michael Owen thinks they need to bring in someone who could emulate the feat of Wayne Rooney. The former Manchester United forward said, “Cristiano Ronaldo obviously isn’t getting any younger and is not going to be there for another four, five years.”
“You never know, it might be his last season. So from that point of view, you do wonder where goals will come from. Marcus Rashford has always been a goalscorer but never been absolutely prolific.”
“[Anthony] Martial has had lots of chances over time. He’s never been really prolific and scored into the twenties, let’s say. So I think in terms of scoring goals, that’s where Manchester United will have to address it at some point. Defence-wise, they’ve invested over the years. I think the full-backs are still a little bit of a question mark.
“They spent a lot of money on the likes of [Aaron] Wan-Bissaka and [Luke] Shaw, and they probably wouldn’t be in the team at the moment. But, I think when you’re Manchester United, you’re probably looking at the next Wayne Rooney, the next 18, 19, 20-year-old.
“If you’re going to buy somebody they need to nail that position down for the next decade. But there’s nobody really out there at the moment that they’ve done that with. So they’ve had to bring players in like Casemiro, like Ronaldo, very much the here and now. But they might need to be replaced.”
It remains to be seen whether Manchester United manage a signing like that in January. The move will depend on Ronaldo’s future, with the Portuguese international keen on departing from Old Trafford.
