Manchester United’s defeat against Swansea on Sunday underlined the fact that they need a new striker. Wayne Rooney is their key striker and he has not been able to find his form with a goal drought of more than 900 minutes. Nobody knows who is to blame for his poor form, Louis van Gaal or Rooney himself. Chicharito was the only proper back up striker they had, but he left Manchester United for Bayer Leverkusen. The other striker option they have is young James Wilson.
However, Woodward has splashed the cash on a relatively unknown youngster called Anthony Martial who is termed as the next Henry. Martial’s stats looks impressive in Ligue1 but for £36m, he does look overpriced. As of now, Manchester United need a striker who can either bring the best out of Rooney or a striker who can directly replace him and I don’t think Anthony Martial ticks any of the two boxes. Here are five Strikers that Manchester should have bought instead of Anthony Martial:-
P.S: – This list is not done in any particular order.
1. Charlie Austin:
The QPR striker was linked with a number of Premier League sides throughout the summer. The 26-year old English man proved his abilities in the premier league last season by scoring 18 goals for the relegated side. He is much more experienced and would have been a cheaper option than Martial who is only 19 years old. He has already scored 4 goals and assisted 1 in the SkyBet Championship. He could have challenged Rooney for the striker spot and could have served as an amazing backup striker.
2. Paco Alcacer:
The 22-year old Spaniard has not started in any of the two games that Valencia has played. He is currently playing as a back up to former Manchester City striker, Alvaro Negredo. Alcacer, who scored 11 goals out of 32 appearances in the La Liga last season, would have been a cheaper option than Martial. Alcacer has also scored 4 goals out of 6 appearances for Spain. Alcacer can be called a perfect striker and would have been a far better choice than Martial for Manchester United.
3. Saido Berahino:
The 22-year old English youngster has caused a lot of speculation during this transfer window. He scored 14 goals out of 38 appearances for West Brom. Though, his transfer request was rejected by West Brom earlier this month, a worthy bid from Manchester United could have forced West Brom to sell Berahino. The youngster has got Premier League experience and he would have been a far cheaper option than Martial.
4. Alexander Lacazette:
Lacazette may not be as cheap as the other options but still would have been available for 30-40 million and he would have been definitely worth it. He was Ligue 1’s top scorer and also ‘the player of the year’ for last season. He scored 27 goals out of 33 appearances for Lyon. The 24 year old Frenchman could have directly replaced Rooney or he could partnered up front with Rooney. There is no doubt that he is much better than Martial. The top scorer from the league where Martial is playing would have been available for the same amount paid for him. That pretty much explains how bad Manchester United’s move for Martial is.
5. Gonzalo Higuain:
Higuain is a more experienced option. He could have directly replaced Rooney at Manchester United. The former Real Madrid striker scorer 18 goals out of 37 appearances for Napoli last season. He would have been available for something between 30-40 million. Considering the fact that Manchester United has Champions League football to play this season, Higuain would have provided much help to the Red Devils. There is no guarantee that Anthony Martial will be as good as the present Higuain when Martial is at his age.
Martial scored 9 goals out of 35 appearances for Monaco last season, but I still don’t know why Manchester United were willing to pay such a big amount. We also don’t know why Manchester United is buying him for such a big amount, if he cannot bring the best out of Rooney or if he cannot replace Rooney. These five players were only a few players who I thought would fit into Manchester United’s system. There are other players like Mauro Icardi and Kevin Volland who would have been much better options than Anthony Martial. LVG had said after the Swansea game that he won’t be panic buying, but we don’t know what kind of transfer this is. LVG had also said earlier during the transfer window that a surprise striker was coming, but Anthony Martial is definitely not the ‘surprise striker’ the Manchester United fans wanted to see.