A year ago
According to reports, Manchester United is thinking about adding two new center strikers in the summer to address their persistent goal-scoring woes.
When playing Chelsea at home on Thursday night in their penultimate league game of the year, United is one point away from securing their qualification for the Champions League of the next season. By winning the game, United will officially confirm their return to the competition. Before United's matchup with Manchester City in the FA Cup final on June 3, Fulham pays a visit to Old Trafford on Sunday.
Notably, over the course of 36 games in the league, Erik ten Hag's team has only scored 52 goals, which ranks second-lowest among teams in the top half of the standings. Ten Hag has frequently bemoaned his team's inability to close out games while in the lead, and United continued this pattern in their 1-0 victory against Bournemouth last weekend.
The Dutchman wants United to deal with the issue over the summer, and as 90min has noted, Harry Kane of Tottenham is the team's primary transfer target.
Spurs have had a terrible season, and despite Kane's 28 league goals this year, they will finish between seventh and ninth in the table and most certainly outside of Europe. With one year remaining on his contract with Spurs, Kane presents United with a better chance than ever to sign one of their most sought-after players from the previous ten years.
As the chairman of Tottenham, Daniel Levy, has a reputation for being a tough negotiator dating back to the time when United signed Michael Carrick and Dimitar Berbatov from the north London club, it is believed that there is little confidence at United that they will be able to secure a deal for Kane.
Tottenham demands a minimum of £100 million for Kane, and while United will investigate if they can make the transfer work, 90min knows that should Spurs delay their feet, they will be ready to move on to other targets. Kane is in a stronger position than ever because Tottenham might lose him for free in a year if they are unable to persuade him to sign a contract extension.
Kane's transfer would probably set a new record for United, and while the team is also interested in Victor Osimhen of Napoli, his price is reportedly a major roadblock. There are worries within the team that a move for the Nigerian player may cost as much as £130 million, which would be a significant rise over their previous transfer record and would restrict their ability to reinforce in other areas.
Both Kane and Osimhen are in the first "box" of targets, which also includes Lautaro Martinez of Inter and Dusan Vlahovic of Juventus as ready-made solutions to cover the central attacking void. Despite Juventus' public interest, 90min claimed in January that United had shown early interest in the Serbian, who may currently be the most reachable of the four.
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