Manchester United are on the lookout for a striker this summer and BBC Sport report Patrik Schick could feature on the club’s shortlist.
Along with names including but not limited to Erling Haaland, Lautaro Martinez and Alexander Isak, the report names Schick as a player who Ralf Rangnick ‘is known to be an admirer of’.
Rangnick won’t be manager next season, but he will likely pass on a few recommendations to the club’s permanent boss, via his role as consultant.
After a terrific 2021/22 campaign which is far from over, Schick’s name deserves to be in the mix.
Schick’s prolific season
This season Schick has scored an impressive 19 Bundesliga goals for Bayer Leverkusen. This is second only to Robert Lewandowski, who has 26.
Schick is ahead of Erling Haaland, who has 16, although it should be noted that Haaland missed several weeks due to injury.
That doesn’t denigrate Schick’s success. He is averaging a goal every 80 minutes in the Bundesliga this season, and his 19 goals have come in 19 games.
Schick, 26, signed for Leverkusen in 2020, after spending a year on loan at RB Leipzig, in a deal overseen by Rangnick.
He scored 10 goals in 28 games, and Bild reported the two clubs could not agree terms to make the deal permanent. Had Leipzig foreseen Schick’s escalation in form, they likely would have gone the extra mile.
Even last season Schick only scored 13 goals for Leverkusen. This year, boosted by his confidence inspiring Euro 2020 for the Czech Republic in which he scored four times, he has gone on to reach a new level.
Dreams of United
Schick signed for Roma in 2017 and said that while he was content at the club, a possible move to three top clubs particularly tempted him. United were one of those.
He was quoted by Football Italia: “It’s not really possible to move much higher [than Roma] but there are a few clubs… let’s say Real Madrid, Barcelona or Manchester United.”
One feature of Schick’s play early in his career was a role as ‘super sub’ at Sampdoria. At one point in the 2017/18 season he had more goals (7) than starts (5). Since then he has kicked on and become the main man at Leverkusen.
Schick is a technical striker, able to score with his head or with his feet, able to lead the line by himself or drop deep to help his team. He also played out on the right early in his career.
The 26-year-old is not a glamorous big name, nor does he court a particularly high profile. And it may suit United to move away from those type of Galactico type signings.
He is at a good age, where he won’t be young enough to be daunted by United, while still having his best years ahead of him.
Schick was of interest to Tottenham while Mauricio Pochettino was in charge, Di Marzio reported, while he also possesses similar goalscoring and technical traits to Sebastien Haller, who Erik Ten Hag has turned into a goalscoring machine at Ajax.
If United do move for Schick, he would not blow the budget, and he would likely make United more efficient. A move could be the most sensible striker deal United could make, far more so than overspending on Harry Kane.
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