It’s no secret that Manchester United are in desperate need of a striker in the January transfer window.
The financial situation of the club is terrible: the inept management of the owners of the Glazer family has exhausted all available credit lines.
Since the club is up for sale, this means that there are practically no funds in this window to acquire the striker that coach Eric ten Hag so desperately needs.
However, there is no reason why money cannot be raised by selling players, and there are four obvious options that, at market value, could raise 85 million euros to cover the cost of this elusive forward.
1. Harry Maguire – 30 million euros
Maguire seems to have lost his place in the first team, and despite a wonderful World Cup in which he was named in the team of the tournament, he was overlooked because of the diminutive Luke Shaw at centre-back against Nottingham Forest and Wolves when club football resumed. On the eve of his 30th birthday, the captain may be happy to restart his career somewhere where regular playing time is guaranteed, and United will still have a lot of central defenders in the person of Lisandro Martinez, Rafael Varane, Victor Lindelof, Axel Tuanzebe, Rhys Bennett, Tyler Fredrickson and improvised experts Shaw and Casemiro.
2. Anthony Elanga – 25 million euros.
It is reported that Frank Lampard really wants to transfer Elanga to Goodison Park, and it seems that this will be a good step for everyone. The 20-year-old has failed to make any impact at Old Trafford this season and Rashford and Anthony have plenty of cover on the flanks with the return of Jaydon Sancho, Alejandro Garnacho, Facundo Pellistri waiting in the wings and Amad Diallo, who can be recalled from loan.
3. Donny van de Beek – 20 million euros.
In fact, this has never happened to Van de Beek at Old Trafford, and if the old boss Ten Hag can’t find the key, then it’s definitely time to move on. Of course, Bruno Fernandez does not have much cover in 10th place, but if van de Beek is sold, one of the possibilities will be to replace him with Hannibal Maybri, who is doing well on loan in Birmingham. In Fernandez’s absence, Christian Eriksen could also take over, while another ball playing youngster, Zidane Iqbal, was given a deeper role to replace him.
4. Brandon Williams – 10 million euros.
Williams has now fully recovered from his injury, but it seems unlikely that he will get into Ten Haga’s first team in any of the roles of extreme defenders: Dalot and Van Bissaka are ahead of him in the hierarchy on the right, and Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malasia on the left. A bold, thoroughbred defender will be a great addition to a team that is threatened with relegation, or a contender for the championship playoffs.
Obviously, the logistical problem of selling four players and buying one in January would be a big problem, but it’s not impossible.
If something close to 85 million euros could be attracted in this way, it would open the door to a world of options with players such as Dusan Vlahovic (80 million euros), Rafael Leao (85 million euros), Lautaro Martinez (75 million euros), Viktor Osimhen (70 million euros), Jonathan David (45 million euros), Tammy Abraham (45 million euros) and Ivan Toni (45 million euros) are among the forwards evaluated in this group.
All market estimates according to transfermarkt.com .
