An age-old problem up front for Reds

UNITED have signed six strikers in the past seven years and only of them has been under 30- although it should be pointed out that he was a failure as well.

- TYRONE MARSHALL

When it comes to picking their goalscorers, this is a club that has been getting it wrong more often than it's been getting it right.

Odion Ighalo and Wout Weghorst will be bizarre footnotes in United history, players whose good fortune it was to be available when things got desperate. Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were ageing goalscorers who became cult heroes, but only very briefly.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the returning hero who soured his legacy and Romelu Lukaku was the young gun, the 24-year-old signed for £75million who is still infuriating United fans with his glaring misses four years after he left the club.

It's a disastrous record and the last man standing is Antony Martial, signed as a wide forward for £50million in 2015, now wearing the No. 9 shirt unconvincingly and injured as often as he's available. After eight years and almost 300 appearances, there have still been just 88 goals.

So it's no surprise that Erik ten Hag is desperate for a striker this season and just as desperate for it to be Harry Kane. The 29-year-old is as close as it gets to a guarantee of goals in the Premier League and his tally of 30 in a struggling Tottenham team last season was sensational.

The problem is that Daniel Levy looks steadfast in his refusal to sell to a Premier League club. Napoli owner Aurelio Aurelio De Laurentiis is also holding firm with Victor Osimhen, who was the other elite striker that could have been on the market this summer.