Manchester United are currently in a precarious position ahead of the January transfer window. While the club grapples with financial instability, their squad still requires reinforcements.
The need for incomings would not have been so much if not for the sensational departure of last season’s top goal-scorer Cristiano Ronaldo.
But now that the Portuguese has departed, new manager Erik ten Hag has made it clear that his side are short of firepower up front and that recruiting a striker in January is of paramount importance.
Financial situation has hurt United’s striker search
It was expected that the Red Devils would be tying up a deal for Cody Gakpo as soon as January arrived after extensive links with the attacker since summer.
Liverpool have stolen a march out of the blue much to the dismay of the manager and the club’s supporters.
However, as already reported on The Peoples Person, due to the imminent sale of the club by the Glazer family, not much is available as transfer budget.
🚨 Álvaro Morata is a loan option for Manchester United if they want to replace Cristiano Ronaldo in January.
(Source: ESPN) pic.twitter.com/lWikktnVT0
— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) December 29, 2022
The only options the club are currently exploring are players who are available on a loan. The likes of Goncalo Ramos, Rafael Leao are out of reach due to their enormous rise in valuation post a successful World Cup.
Realistic options at the moment include Atletico Madrid attacker Joao Felix and Barcelona’s Memphis Depay. Felix has a loan fee of around £8million while the Catalan giants would like some sort of transfer fee for Depay.
Such is United’s current financial situation that even such a low loan fee for Felix is not likely to be met while paying a fee for Depay, whose contract expires in the summer, is not a wise move.
In such a situation, another surprise name has entered the fray according to ESPN — Atletico Madrid striker Alvaro Morata. “Alvaro Morata remains an option if Atletico are willing to listen to loan offers,” the report mentioned.
Morata, an unlikely solution
The Spanish striker is enjoying a decent season so far. He has five goals in 14 La Liga games this season while the 30-year-old also netted three goals in four games for Spain at the World Cup.
United fans will know him well from his disastrous Chelsea spell, and during that season, United were heavily linked with Morata only to end up landing Romelu Lukaku.
Ten Hag is said to be on the lookout for a traditional No 9 and Morata does fit that bill perfectly.
For Atletico, sanctioning a temporary deal for Morata does not seem like the best course of action. With Felix on the market and Matheus Cunha on his way to Wolves, Morata leaving would leave them extremely short up front.
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