Manchester United missed out on moving to within five points of Premier League leaders Arsenal with their 2-2 draw against Leeds.
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag may be questioning the club’s transfer tactics after being left with limited options in their disappointing home draw to Leeds on Wednesday night. Marcel Sabitzer and Wout Weghorst were the only first-team signings throughout the January transfer window with Jack Butland coming in as the third-choice goalkeeper.
Prior to the transfer window opening, United were being strongly linked with a big-name striker following Cristiano Ronaldo’s acrimonious exit. Ten Hag had managed earlier in the season without the Portuguese superstar as he was dropped to a rotation role.
But there was still a clear need for more reinforcements in attack even with Ronaldo at the club, but certainly after his departure. Cody Gakpo was being heavily linked, but Liverpool soon swooped in to sign the forward ahead of United.
Reports then emerged that United were tightening the purse strings in January in a bid to save up their cash for the summer. It meant that Ten Hag was limited to the loan market with Weghorst being signed as the central attacker.
The move was initially hailed as a good piece of business as the Dutchman has impressed everywhere he’s gone – apart from his short stint at Burnley towards the end of last season. And he’s clearly struggling to adapt to life back in the Premier League once again with the striker off the pace against Leeds.
With Anthony Martial still recovering from fitness issues, Ten Hag has had to rely on Weghorst more times than he probably would have liked. He’s failed to score or have much of an impact in any of his four Premier League matches to date and that doesn’t look like changing any time soon.
United have been saved at times by the impressive form of Marcus Rashford lately, who’s taken over the reins in attack. And he was on the scoresheet again just minutes after Weghorst was subbed off against Leeds.
But Ten Hag won’t want to solely rely on the England international to rescue United and ideally would have a central striker capable of finding the net on a regular basis. The United boss now has to wait until the summer for the club to stick to their word in signing a world-class striker.
But judging from Weghorst’s display against Leeds, it could be a long few months between now and then for Ten Hag.
SOURCE: express.co.uk
