For a first season in English football for Dutch manager Erik ten Hag, how the Red Devils finished 2022-23 can – and should – be viewed as an overall success for global giants Manchester United.
An EFL Cup triumph and a date with rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup final await the former Ajax headmaster, with a chance to bag a brace of silverware after making the leap from the Eredivisie to the top-rated league in Europe.
But despite successful cup runs, the Red Devils fell well short of the mark on the league front while failing to mount a serious challenge to either Pep Guardiola’s champions or an Arsenal outfit that topped the table for 250-days before succumbing to pressure from the City behemoth.
Finishing fourteen points behind City, and nine adrift of Arsenal, closing out the campaign in 3rd is, still, credible in of itself, especially given the torrid nature of how the club began the season under his tenure. One of the key failings of the club this season has come by way of its inconsistency in front of goal, and an overall inability to compete with its closest rivals in that realm.
As such, United is expected to target the center-forward role as a key source of reinforcement this summer, with links to possible moves for Tottenham star Harry Kane and SSC Napoli ace Victor Osimhen.
Erik ten Hag when asked on Harry Kane for Man Utd: “Kane in the list? What we need besides Marcus Rashford is one extra player with scoring abilities…”, told @TimesSport. 🚨🔴 #MUFC
“We need it, whether it’s coming out of our own squad or we have to sign one”. pic.twitter.com/iajMHlntUA
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 29, 2023
When speaking with Times Sport, Ten Hag made clear that the Red Devils desperately needed to find another source of goals either via the market or more shockingly, sourcing it from inside the halls of Old Trafford.
Whether or not the 21-year-old Yorkshire native returns is not down to Ten Hag in the wake of ongoing legal issues surrounding accusations and charges of attempted rape. Those charges were subsequently dropped back in February after the Crown Prosecution Service detailed new evidence that had surfaced as well as the withdrawal of key witness testimony.
Despite that, United may still keep Greenwood at arms length, while the most likely direction United will take to solve their goalscoring issues surely will come from the summer transfer market.
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