Well, here we are again. Another summer where Manchester United need to add a striker to their ranks. Not for the first time, the Red Devils have dawdled and dallied going about such business.
The 2024-25 season will forever be an unforgettable one for those of a United persuasion for all the wrong reasons. They finished a club-record low of 15th in the Premier League, lost the Europa League final to a Tottenham team that somehow finished beneath them domestically, and found scoring goals the most difficult of tasks.
Ruben Amorim, appointed as successor to Erik ten Hag last November, has yet to properly stamp his imprint on this team. If anything, he's taken them backwards when that seemed an impossible feat. The positives to work with are he has a vision for how he wants United to play - albeit there are major flaws to iron out in the rough and tumble of English football - and they have become a pain for the big boys to play against, retaining a defensive resolution when facing teams of far superior quality.
How much United can achieve in 2025-26, though, will likely depend on their scoring threat. If they throw the same wayward punches as last season, they will find themselves strewn across the canvas again and again. They have already sought to improve in the final third with the additions of Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, but they still need a No.9 to bring it all together.
In recent days, reports claimed the United top brass had narrowed that search down to two quite different options: Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins, and RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko. And while it broke on Wednesday that they have opened talks with the latter, it is Watkins that they should be looking to get over the line.
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