As Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting accumulated a healthy collection of silverware at Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, it became all too easy to label him a Stoke City flop made good.
And, OK, while that short-lived spell at the Potteries certainly feels at odds with the striker’s highly-successful stints in Paris and Bavaria – especially when you consider that Stoke were relegated at the end of that 2017/18 season – to suggest that Choupo-Moting was an unmitigated disaster in England does the Cameroon international a slight disservice.
Only Xherdan Shaqiri (eight) scored more than him that campaign. Choupo-Moting also has a 20-minute brace against none other than Manchester United to show for his admittedly brief spell on UK soil. One which is worth revisiting as 2023 turns to 2024.
Could Manchester United make Choupo-Moting move?
His first, just before the break, was a clinical, first-time finish after ghosting in behind Eric Bailly. A towering header after the break consigned Jose Mourinho’s side to a frustrating 2-2 draw and, six-and-a-half years on, the attributes Choupo-Moting displayed on that September afternoon go some way to explaining why Man United could be tempted to make a move for the now-34-year-old frontman in the present day (The Athletic).
“We had a player at Stoke, Choupo-Moting, a fantastic player. So much ability,” former Potters team-mate Peter Crouch once said. “He was 6ft 4ins, and he could dominate a centre-half if he wanted to.”
United have lacked a centre-forward capable of doing exactly that for some time now, with Anthony Martial’s limbs held together by bluetack and sellotape and Rasmus Hojlund as raw as a lamb shank in Hell’s Kitchen.
And while few United supporters will be too ecstatic about the propsect of another short-term, 30-something centre-forward – Wout Weghorst and Odion Ighalo made little impact after their own January moves – Choupo-Moting clearly still has plenty of oil left in the tank.
Prolific at Bayern Munich last season
Lest we forget, he scored 17 times in just 30 games for Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich last season, and only lost his place as the club’s number one centre-forward after the arrival of Harry Kane.
Choupo-Moting showed when up against Man United back in 2017 that he possesses the power and the movement to strike fear into the heart of Premier League defences. Nearly seven years on, those attributes have only been enhanced by his time at two of Europe’s A-list clubs.
Comparisons with Ighalo and Weghorst are, of course, inevitable. But you don’t score nearly 20 goals for Bayern Munich at the age of 34 while having nothing to offer. And, as the success of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani at Old Trafford demonstrates, age is but a number.
Ability is what matters most, and Choupo-Moting has plenty of that.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
