Ex-Man Utd star instructs club to sign England duo as Sir Jim Ratcliffe demand is made
Manchester United are in desperate need of some firepower, and one former Old Trafford star has chimed in on the England stars he thinks new shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe should purchase
Manchester United and Sir Jim Ratcliffe have been told to approach England stars Ivan Toney and Ollie Watkins.
Ratcliffe officially kicked off his United regime by signing Bologna forward Joshua Zirkzee for £36.5million. But he will need to get a lot more business done before the summer window shuts to turn around the club’s fortunes.
A 1-0 pre-season loss to Norwegian side Rosenborg raised eyebrows about the task at hand. And the Red Devils’ transfer business is far from done.
One goal that former Old Trafford great Paul Ince has pleaded with his former club to prioritise is to approach a seasoned Premier League striker – namely Toney and Watkins – to take the scoring burden away from young Rasmus Hojlund.
The Brentford and Aston Villa strikers grabbed headlines for their exploits at Euro 2024 with England. Toney coolly slotted away his penalty against Switzerland and Watkins bagged his iconic goal with a powerful strike in the dying seconds vs the Netherlands, which sent his country to the final.
The duo have garnered plenty of interest this summer, namely Toney, whose contract is up in 2025. The Bees will not want to lose their star striker for nothing in a year’s time, so they are likely to sell during the current window.
Ince is of the firm belief that United are in dire need of a major overhaul, with a particular emphasis on signing a striker who can consistently score in the Premier League.
He exclusively told Ladbrokes 1-2-Free: “They’ve got to strengthen a lot this summer. When you look at a team before pre-season starts, and you start identifying where you might want to strengthen, you don’t want to make wholesale changes.
“You know, you want to keep the core of the team. But when you look at Manchester United, they need at least seven players, arguably in the starting XI.
“Raphael Varane is gone now, Lisandro Martinez has been injured pretty much all season, so there’s an issue there; can he compete for 40 or more games per season? We’ve got Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who we’re trying to sell. Luke Shaw has spent a lot of time out.
“Casemiro is going to move on, and we still haven’t found that holding number six. Antony hasn’t been performing, so do you get someone in to replace him? Marcus Rashford hasn’t been at his best, and Rasmus Hojlund is still a young striker. That’s so many areas of the pitch you would say need improving.
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