Ten Hag fails to name Wout Weghorst among five Manchester United goalscorers

Manchester United’s need for another regular goalscorer has been well-documented under Erik ten Hag this season.

Marcus Rashford has been on stellar form this season, scoring 27 goals and providing a further seven assists in 44 matches for Manchester United this season.

He has no doubt been the attacking star of this campaign under Erik ten Hag, having his best season yet in terms of individual performances.

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However, in terms of consistent goal threat, the buck seems to stop there for the club. Bruno Fernandes is the next highest goalscorer with 10, while Antony is third on seven, and Fred and Anthony Martial round off the top five with six apiece.

United are targeting a new first-XI striker this coming summer transfer window, with Harry Kane being reportedly identified as Ten Hag’s pick of the bunch. Victor Osimhen has also been a name strongly linked with the club.

United’s current striker, Burnley-loanee Wout Weghorst, has just two goals and three assists in his 18 appearances so far, and when Ten Hag was asked about his need for another goalscorer, he failed to mention the Dutch striker as part of five goalscorers behind Rashford.

“I think we have players like Bruno, like Jadon Sancho, like Anthony Martial, like Scott McTominay, like Antony dos Santos, we have enough players with the capabilities to score goals, definitely,” he explained during his pre-match press conference ahead of the tie against Newcastle.

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He did, however, hint that Weghorst could stay at the club beyond his current loan deal.

“Of course,” was his reply when asked if Weghorst could be part of his long-term plans. “I think he is doing a lot of elements of football really well.

“Wout is doing a really good job for us. He is the leader of the process in pressing, he starts the press and is very good in backward pressing. He is also taking up [good] positions and in his link-up play he’s doing really well.

“He is making good movements, making space for others, so he’s also good in set-plays. He is really contributing to this team.

“I think after Christmas we have played 25 games and we lost two – and Weghorst played almost all of the games so he is really part of the success.”