Striker Anthony Martial has been ruled out for 10 weeks after groin surgery leaving United in urgent need of a back-up striker.
Manchester United‘s version of the January blues usually involves discovering they need a striker.
In 2019-20, they plucked ex-Watford striker Odion Ighalo from Covid-ravaged China and made the 30-year-old United fan’s dreams come true.
Last season, they struck a deal with both Burnley and Besiktas to get Wout Weghorst on loan and the giant Dutchman ended up playing in 31 games, way more than he anticipated.
A year on and history has repeated itself after Anthony Martial was ruled out for 10 weeks following groin surgery. This has raised doubts over whether the Frenchman will ever play for United again.
That leaves Erik ten Hag with just one recognised striker – their £73m summer arrival Rasmus Hojlund, whose efforts have only been rewarded with seven goals in 25 outings so far.
United, like all Premier league clubs in a ghostly January window, are backed into a corner by Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) and so cannot simply go out and splash the cash before next week’s deadline.
Therefore, who are United’s options for a quick deal?
Certainly the biggest name being linked to United was Karim Benzema. However, speculation appears to have been shut down because of the Frenchman’s ‘exorbitant’ wage demands.
Benzema, 36, is reportedly unsettled at his Saudi club Al-Ittihad and didn’t report back for a mid-season training camp earlier this month ahead of the Pro League’s resumption.
The player’s camp shut down the speculation and in any case Benzema’s salary – believed to be £86m-a-year in Saudi – would be prohibitive for United conscious of Financial Fair Play.
So Benzema would have to take a significant wage cut but he is a proven goalscorer – he netted 354 times in 14 years with Real Madrid, helping them to five Champions League successes.
The 34-year-old Bayern Munich forward, Eric Maxim Choupo Moting has been linked with United for most of this month.
The arrival of £100m Harry Kane at the Allianz Arena has restricted Choupo-Moting’s game time this season, with the Cameroon forward starting just three Bundesliga games and two in the German Cup.
He would no doubt prefer a little more than just late cameos from the subs’ bench and would surely be a quick and easy loan deal for United to conclude.
Choupo-Moting is in his fourth season at Bayern and previously played for Paris Saint-Germain. He does also have some Premier League experience from his season with Stoke in 2017-18.
He could be a decent bet to get 5-10 goals during the second-half of the season and ease the burden on Hojlund.
If United can stomach yet more jokes about Ten Hag only signing Ajax players, then young striker Brobbey may also be an option.
The Netherlands international, 21, is a regular scorer in the Eredivisie but struggled when he joined RB Leipzig and it might take plenty of coaching from Ten Hag to get him up to Premier League standard.
Another concern is Brobbey’s age, just a year older than Hojlund, when United could do with a back-up striker of proven experience to solve their scoring woes.
Ten Hag is believed to be a fan, however, having introduced him to the Ajax first-team but any Brobbey move may be more realistic for the summer.
Another name to have been persistently linked with United is the Guinean striker Guirassy, who has an impressive 19 goals in 16 games for Bundesliga club Stuttgart this season.
They would likely face stiff competition from West Ham and Newcastle, if reports are to be believed, with Guirassy, 27, looking bound for the Premier League at some point or another.
There is a clause in Guirassy’s contract that allows him to move for a modest £15m, which would see Stuttgart double their money on the man they signed from Rennes last summer.
But with PSR concerns foremost, even paying that amount could prove troublesome for United this month.