After losing Romelu Lukaku, a short-term loan move for Odion Ighalo has turned out to be a masterstroke.
However, there are still doubts about Ighalo’s fit in the long-term, most notably due to his age, coupled with the fact Shanghai Shenhua want to keep him.
It makes sense then, to see United constantly linked with potential new signings up front; enter, Raul Jimenez.
The latest Jimenez to United story we covered came back in early June, when the reported Red Devils target was apparently made available for just £18million.
A month has passed since then, though this seems like an absolute bargain for a player of Jimenez’s calibre. Now, the 24-goal Wolverhampton Wanderers striker has been urged to make the United move by none other than Mexico national team boss, Gerardo Martino.
“Looking at it from the outside today I cannot see a specialist No. 9 like Raul at United,” Martino told ESPN’s Futol Picante translated by the Manchester Evening News.
“There are many forwards like [Marcus] Rashford, [Anthony] Martial and the boy who now plays as right-winger: [Mason] Greenwood but since Romelu Lukaku left I can’t see a pure number nine like Raul.
“We who see it from the outside, you and even me, always have the idea that a player has to aim for more and how good it would be for him to go to play for Manchester United.”
As Martino says, United do lack that ‘specialist No.9’ although Anthony Martial is playing at an incredibly high level right now. Factor in Jimenez’s Premier League experience and this is definitely a move I could get behind.
Jimenez is an imposing, physical presence who is great in the air and with his back to goal. In games where United need that different dimension, the Mexican would be the perfect option.
It does also make sense for Martino to push this move over a switch to Juventus, as he’d probably get way more playing time here in Manchester. Who knows, we may well be in the Champions League next season, too.
I guess the only downside again is Jimenez’s age. He’s 29 now, and although he’s probably got a few years left in him at the top, he’s hardly a long-term solution (like pretty much all of Solskjaer’s signings have been so far)…
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