Erling Haaland is available this summer. Very available thanks to the efforts of his father and agent.
The battle royale for his signature is already underway, with every big club in Europe seemingly interested, but one of those admirers could actually be best suited keeping their chequebooks closed, and concentrating on matters closer to home.
Manchester United do not need Haaland. That may seem somewhat churlish – what team wouldn’t want one of the best strikers in the world – but when you have the perfect guiding figure in the ranks in Edinson Cavani, switching your focus to what you already have should be the priority. There is not room for both in the United strike department.
United have been here before. Alexis Sanchez arrived in Manchester to much fanfare, but the capture, from minute one, felt as out of tune as his piano playing on the Old Trafford pitch during his unveiling.
Haaland is a much better player and should United be his desired destination – and that is far from certain – he would undoubtedly plunder plenty of goals. But in the middle of a pandemic, United’s money is better spent elsewhere, given what’s already in place.
In 302 games from David Moyes’ first to Jose Mourinho’s last, United scored five or more goals in a game twice. In 144 games under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, it’s now happened nine times.
As the Roma blitz showed, the goals have flown in from a variety of sources. A strike squad of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Mason Greenwood and the irrepressible Cavani, supplemented by Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba, is the perfect blend. Keeping the band together, rather than adding to it, is a must.
We were all wrong about Cavani. Nobody else seemed interested last summer, and to plump for a 33-year-old over long-term target Jadon Sancho angered the majority of United’s fanbase. Overtures of Radamel Falcao were hard to ignore.
But Cavani has taught everyone a lesson in the makeup of the modern, elite footballer.
Footballers can play on for longer now. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has just signed a new deal at AC Milan that will take him into his 40s. This is no favour from the club or marketing ploy – the 39-year-old Swede is the club’s top goalscorer this season.
Players don’t have 10 pints after games anymore. The very elite are more likely to be teetotal and vegan. Cavani does ballet and yoga to keep his fitness up. He is the fittest player at United, and it has been an eye-opener to the club and Solskjaer himself.
He has told the club what he eats. A player is educating the club – and everyone is on board. El Matador is giving lessons on the pitch, too.
“Mason [Greenwood] has learned from Edinson [Cavani],” Solskjaer said earlier this month. “And of course it’s important when Edinson is here now, he’s not going to play football forever, but the traits, his movement, he [Mason] has picked up.”
For a long time, United have had high hopes for Greenwood. Since scoring 16 goals in his first-ever match as a six-year-old for his local club, he has broken record after record as he breezed through United’s academy.
Now, he is producing the goods in the first team. No teenager has scored more league goals for United than Greenwood.
A few more years absorbing everything about Cavani – he is capable of at least that at the very top level – will only turn this boy wonder into a man. Signing Haaland and allowing Cavani to go will only limit Greenwood’s game time, at a crucial juncture in his development. Sharing the strike responsibility with a man who knows every forward’s trick in the book would be a much more productive, long-term approach.
The problem United have now is persuading Cavani to stay. i understands Cavani is planning to play out his final years closer to home, but there are certain elements to his English experience the veteran Uruguayan is yet to encounter.
“He knows I would love to have him for another year,” Solskjaer said after the Roma win. “I understand this year has been very difficult, but I promised him that Old Trafford and Manchester is a different place with fans in the stadium.”
Now fully fit, Liverpool are in the marksman’s sights, where a further few goals will only enhance Solskjaer’s desire that he stays further. A settled strikeforce is a productive one and led by Cavani, energised by Greenwood, United can really push on.
Other areas of the squad are not quite so rosy, and would benefit from the Haaland funds instead.
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