Manchester United can be hoping they’ll flip their torrid kind round in opposition to Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday afternoon. The Crimson Devils have been in horrendous kind, profitable only one sport out of their final 5 in all competitions.
While a visit to their massive rivals and the aspect who high the Premier League at present looks like a frightening activity, it isn’t out of the query that they’ll win. In spite of everything, they did beat Manchester Metropolis away from house 5 video games in the past.
If United do lose, the distress will merely proceed to pile on. It won’t be lengthy earlier than Ruben Amorim’s aspect flip to the switch marketplace for a brand new addition.
Man United’s reported January goal
Unsurprisingly with a membership like United, the switch rumours have already begun pouring in, despite the fact that the January window is simply days previous. One of many gamers who has been linked with Outdated Trafford is Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic.
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According to a report from journalist Enrico Camelio, speaking on Italian radio station Radio Lo Sport, United may look to make a transfer for the Serbian striker. He believes that the ‘thought is believable’, however there could be a catch.
To ensure that the 24-year-old to change the Outdated Girl for the Crimson Devils, United striker Joshua Zirkzee must go the opposite means. Camelio defined that ‘there may be an thought of an change’ between the 2 golf equipment, which might see the Dutchman reunite together with his former head coach at Bologna, Thiago Motta.
At this stage, it’s unclear the place any cash would even be concerned within the deal. With that being stated, Juve would possibly need to recoup a few of the £66.6m they spent on the Serb again in January 2022 once they purchased him from Fiorentina.
Why Vlahovic could be signing
It has been a reasonably profitable season up to now for Juventus’ quantity 9. The Serb has scored 12 targets and has two assists in 22 video games throughout all competitions, together with seven strikes within the Serie A and 4 in 5 Champions League video games up to now.
His file for Juve as an entire is fairly spectacular. In 123 games for the Italian giants, he has 53 targets and 11 assists. On common, he will get a aim involvement each different look. That goes alongside together with his 49 targets in 108 video games for Fiorentina.
Vlahovic stats per membership |
|||
---|---|---|---|
Stat |
Partizan Belgrade |
Fiorentina |
Juventus |
Video games |
27 |
108 |
123 |
Minutes |
528 |
7084 |
9005 |
Targets |
3 |
49 |
53 |
Assists |
1 |
8 |
11 |
G/A per sport |
0.14 |
0.52 |
0.52 |
Stats from Transfermarkt |
His greatest season in Turin got here within the 2023/24 marketing campaign. The £354k-per-week striker scored 16 targets and notched up three assists in 33 Serie A video games.
On the face of issues, that’s precisely what United want from their striker. That’s to say, a real goalscorer who is aware of the place the again of the web is. It’s merely one thing they haven’t had this time period.
Nevertheless, this deal might turn into much more interesting to the Crimson Devils trustworthy when the comparisons between Vlahovic and their legendary striker, Robin van Persie, are drawn. When laid out, they’re clearly comparable gamers.
The Dutchman was one of many best strikers of his technology, and for United he was merely unstoppable. Van Persie bagged 58 targets and 15 assists in 105 appearances for the club.
Arguably his best hour in that well-known pink shirt was his title-winning hat trick in 2012/13, Sir Alex Ferguson’s remaining season. In that marketing campaign, the Dutchman scored 26 occasions in 38 video games.
He is without doubt one of the purest goalscorers within the membership’s historical past, and the similarities with Vlahovic are there. They have been identified by football scout Ben Mattinson, who listed a few of their shared attributes together with their “killer left foot”, earlier than explaining that he “may simply be speaking about both Van Persie or Vlahovic”.
Certainly, the actual fact each gamers are left-footed, bodily dominant gamers who’ve highly effective ball-striking potential is a scary similarity. There isn’t a doubting United followers would like to see Amorim signal his personal model of their legendary striker.
The “monster” centre-forward, as Mattinson described Vlahovic, might be the person United want to assist take them again to the highest. It has been a poor run of kind, however bringing the Serbian striker on this month may rework their fortunes.
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