The striker position is the £ 108 million problem of Manchester United.
That is how many the Red Devils have tried to solve their attacking problems in the past two years, with neither Rasmus Hojlund nor Joshua Zirkzee cut the mustard. In all competitions this season, Hojlund scored seven goals and Zirkzee only five.
The German giant Borussia Dortmund has no such problem, with Serhou Guirassy already 23 for the campaign and leads the score cards in the Champions League with 10. His minutes per target ratio is only marginal improved by Robert Lewandowski, who has one goal behind Guirassy and has played Barcelona on the competition.
We all know the story of how densely united to sign Lewandowski in the summer of 2012, but what is less well known is how the Red Devils Guirassy could have had Guirassy much more recently for just £ 14 million.
In January 2024, while Erik ten Hag strongly trusted the new signature Hojlund and an injury that is sensitive to leading the line, United had the opportunity to sign Guirassy. At the time, the Guinea-International Nek went on neck with Harry Kane in the Bundesliga scor cards, causing Stuttgart of relegation play-off survivors to Champions League opportunities.
The former striker of Koln and Amiens, who paid Stuttgart only € 9 million (£ 7 million), was Germany's conversation – but open before departure. “Everyone knows that the Premier League is one of the most competitive competitions in the world, but I am not closing doors at the moment,” he revealed.
Everyone surprised the form of Guirassy in the mature age, because he had never been so productive in his previous mid-table clubs in France and Germany. A miracle of one season, claimed Cynics.
That is why, according to athletics, United Chiefs found that his release clause of € 17.5 million (£ 14 million) was not worth paying. But what the current boss Ruben Amorim would now give for the services of Guirassy, even if he would not be the long -term solution of the Red Devils.
After helping Stuttgart to secure a stunning second place over Bayern Munich, Dortmund broke him up last summer and picked the rewards, even in an equally gloomy season as United has endured. Bvb dismissed Nuri Sahin in January and appointed former Bayern Munich manager Nico Kovac, who gets the best from Guirassy.
The 28-year-old scored six goals in the first six games of KOVAC, four of which were cleared in Dortmund's 6-0 last month from Union Berlin. The three assists of Guirassy in the Champions League also illustrate how he is not only a goal scorer.
Dortmund stands for Lille, one of his former clubs, on Tuesday in the round of 16 and will travel to France next Wednesday for the second stage. Take it through and they would face Benfica or Barcelona, the last of which scored twice in December.
United, meanwhile, is stuck in the Europa League after last season in the interior of eighth place, but a productive striker like Guirassy could have shot them on the table – and ten hag can still be in charge. Instead, his problem is now of Amorim.
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