Teddy Sheringham has made his feelings clear on Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap’s potential summer transfer to his former club Manchester United.
Manchester United are looking to strengthen Ruben Amorim’s forward line in the summer transfer window due to their goalscoring concerns this term.
Despite scoring five earlier this week in their stunning Europa League win over Lyon – the struggles from the forward players were still extremely evident.
Alejandro Garnacho continues to offer promise but lack end product while Rasmus Højlund struggles to get involved in the penalty box. He was substituted on Thursday while Harry Maguire and Kobbie Mainoo played as makeshift strikers. They both scored.
Liam Delap is reportedly the favoured option as a striker signing this summer. The Ipswich Town striker will have a £30 million release clause active when the Tractor Boys are inevitably relegated from the Premier League.
The ex-Manchester City academy player has scored 12 goals so far this term and also has two assists. United are confident that he could improve further at Old Trafford.
Sheringham delivers verdict on Delap to United
Teddy Sheringham has been asked about the potential addition of Delap at Old Trafford this week and has played down the impact of signing him.
Instead, the ex-United striker believes his former club need to focus on being able to deliver chances to their forwards on a consistent basis before worrying about who is playing there.
“Liam Delap to Manchester United? I don’t think it really matters what type of striker is at the club,” Sheringham said when speaking to Casino Hawks.
“Unless you’re going to get a phenomenal Erling Haaland that scores at every opportunity, I think they need to work on the service to the striker more than which striker is playing because strikers need service.
“If they’re not getting it they become redundant and it becomes a hard graft for any striker. So I think that’s more the issue, getting the right sort of service and the team to feed the strikers that are there.
“I quite like Rasmus Hojlund, I really like Hojlund and although I don’t think Joshua Zirkzee is the ideal man, I still think he’s got something a little bit about him that you can score goals.”
Amorim agrees with Sheringham assessment
Some would argue that a better striker would generate those extra chances themselves with improved box movement and know-how. Although, Amorim has shared a similar view to Sheringham.
The United boss has often come to the defence of the under-fire Højlund by mentioning the fact that his side need to create more chances for him.
“We don’t create a lot of situations. That’s it. Sometimes we cannot serve our forwards and strikers as we should serve,” the 40-year-old explained last month.
“I think we have to improve as a team. If we improve as a team the way we play, we are going to help every player.”
In reality, it feels like both sides are correct. United do need to improve in their chance creation but their current strike-options also need to improve.
Whether it is Delap or someone else, a forward signing will be made in the summer but United cannot expect them to completely turn things around on their own. Improvements have to be made.
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