Maybe the most effective January signing Manchester United have ever made was a deal to convey Bruno Fernandes to Outdated Trafford. He signed from Sporting CP for upwards of £67.7m together with add-ons, the fifth costliest January deal of all time.
Fernandes’ affect on the membership has been unfathomable. He’s the United captain and has played 268 times for the membership. In that point, he has scored 88 objectives and registered 77 assists, a outstanding document.
Maybe United’s most up-to-date reported January goal can have the identical affect as their Portuguese Magnifico.
Man Utd’s seek for a striker
The participant in query right here is Juventus ahead Dusan Vlahovic. According to a report from Graeme Bailey, the Pink Devils are thought to have enquired about his present ‘scenario at Juventus’, and will pursue a late transfer.
They may face competitors from some large Premier League rivals. North Londoners Arsenal and high 4 contenders Aston Villa have additionally requested Juve concerning the striker’s scenario. Given it appears unlikely he’ll signal a brand new deal, there’s a probability they may convey him in.
Why Vlahovic can be an excellent signing
Regardless of a scarcity of alternatives beneath Juventus supervisor Thiago Motta, Vlahoivc has nonetheless been in spectacular type throughout the 2024/25 marketing campaign. He has played 28 games to date this time period and has 13 objectives and two assists in that point.
Maybe the striker’s most vital contribution this marketing campaign got here towards Manchester Metropolis within the Champions League. He scored one aim in Juve’s 2-0 win over the Premier League champions. It’s definitely a strike that can resonate with the Pink Devils followers.
Ought to United get a deal for the Serbian “monster” – as hailed by analyst Ben Mattinson – over the road, he could possibly be an ideal different signing to Bayern Munich attacker Mathys Tel. The Frenchman appears unlikely to make the transfer to Outdated Trafford, according to Jamie Jackson.
Now, there isn’t any doubt that Vlahovic and Tel are barely completely different gamers. The Juve man is an out-and-out centre-forward, whereas Tel is extra versatile and might play up entrance or out on the wing.
Nevertheless, United want objectives on the minute, so it’s certainly not a lot of a problem for the Pink Devils. In reality, to get an thought of how good of another Tel can be to Vlahovic, you may examine them statistically on FBref.
Utilizing knowledge from the previous two home top-flight seasons in Italy and Germany respectively, Vlahovic’s pure striker intuition shines by means of, as proven by his anticipated objectives tally of 0.65xG in comparison with simply 0.31xG for Tel.
Moreover, the Serbian worldwide is somebody who can convey teammates into the sport and truly averages 0.93 key passes per 90 minutes over the previous two seasons. That’s barely greater than Tel, who performs 0.9 key passes per sport.
Vlahovic & Tel key stats in contrast |
||
---|---|---|
Stat (per 90) |
Vlahvoic |
Tel |
Anticipated objectives |
0.65xG |
0.31xG |
Targets per shot on the right track |
0.35 |
0.33 |
Targets |
0.59 |
0.48 |
Shot-creating actions |
2.53 |
3.38 |
Key passes |
0.93 |
0.9 |
Stats from FBref |
Signing Vlahoivc could possibly be the proper different transfer to Tel. The Frenchman appears unattainable for United now, however the probability to signal Vlahovic, a “lethal” striker as Mattinson described him, is likely to be too good to be true.
This could possibly be United’s dream signing, and maybe find yourself being their finest January addition since Fernandes 5 years in the past.
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