Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admits Manchester United are a goalscorer light after allowing Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez to leave for Inter Milan.
Marcus Rashford is the club’s only fit senior striker ahead of today’s trip to Southampton as Anthony Martial struggles with a thigh injury. It leaves Solskjaer weighing up whether to unleash 17-year-old academy product Mason Greenwood, who has only one Premier League start to his name.
‘We are one down — we didn’t just find the right one,’ Solskjaer conceded. ‘We didn’t find the answer that we wanted. I do like the one who scores scrappy goals in and around the box, a young Ole...’
United had opportunities, but backed away from a deal for Paulo Dybala of Juventus over the forward’s wage demands.
Juventus wanted £14million for target man Mario Mandzukic, while Solskjaer has always insisted he will not sign a free agent to fill the attacking void. The manager maintains Rashford and Martial will relish the responsibility, although neither has scored more than 11 league goals in a season.
‘Both of them enjoy the trust,’ Solskjaer added. ‘It’s give and take here. We trust you, but you’ve got to give it back. We have to be more clinical, we have to work on the last pass, the last finish — and maybe score penalties. It’s time for our boys to feel that pressure, to be more robust, to know they have to play five games in a row.’
Yesterday Chris Smalling was in Italy completing his loan to Roma, while Matteo Darmian is joining Parma in Serie A.