Manchester United will be fully expected to strengthen its attacking department in the summer.
After struggling for goals in yet another campaign, Manchester United find themselves positioned 15th in the Premier League after playing 25 matches.
United have managed just 28 goals in those games, and it doesn’t help that Amad Diallo could be ruled out for the remainder of the season with injury. Nor does it help that Rasmus Hojlund has gone 15 games without a goal.
Those are worrying goalscoring numbers for a team that has an objective to compete in the Champions League this season.
Meanwhile, Alejandro Garnacho has been wasteful in front of goal and Joshua Zirkzee tends to play a deeper role in attack.
Ruben Amorim arrived in November and has endured a rocky start as United’s head coach.
Although the club has several financial restraints heading into the summer transfer window, the former Sporting CP manager will be hoping that Ineos can back him at the end of the season with new signings.
Ademola Lookman slams Gian Piero Gasperini
After impressing at Atalanta, like Hojlund before him, reports surface in November that United are interested in Ademola Lookman.
The rumours continued into the January transfer window when United were said to have made contact regarding a deal rising to £41.5 million.
Lookman scored for Atalanta against Club Brugge in the Champions League on Tuesday night, but it wasn’t enough as they were eliminated from the competition, losing 3-1 on the night.
The forward wasted an opportunity to make it 5-3 on aggregate with 30 minutes left to play, but former Liverpool stopper Simon Mignolet denied Lookman’s penalty kick.
Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini chose to criticise Lookman after the match, labelling him one of the worst penalty takers he has ever seen.
Lookman has since issued a defensive statement via Instagram in which he claims to be disappointed after being singled out by Gasperini, as shared by Fabrizio Romano.
Lookman statement reminiscent to Jadon Sancho outburst
Jadon Sancho’s time at United quickly came to an end when he called out Erik ten Hag for being a liar in an infamous outburst shared on social media.
Ten Hag questioned the levels Sancho was showing in training and the player responded terribly.
Sancho was frozen out of United’s first-team after saying he had “been a scapegoat for a long time” on September 3, 2023. He was later sent on loan to Borussia Dortmund, where he reached the Champions League final, before joining Chelsea at the start of this season.
While Lookman’s statement reads similarly to Sancho, it’s worth noting that Gasperini’s comments were disrespectful towards a player who helped him win the Europa League last season.
Another key difference is Lookman is still providing goalscoring contributions for Atalanta, whereas Sancho was painfully inconsistent at United.
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