Manchester United are all set to experience their worst-ever domestic season this year, as they are languishing in the 16th position in the Premier League table with 17 defeats at the moment.
No amount of seemingly ludicrous excuses like one of concentrating more on the UEFA Europa League can make up for the fact that Manchester United continue to be dire under Ruben Amorim.
Their latest defeat in the league came against West Ham United, who have been struggling to find form themselves this season.
Reaching the Europa League final alongside Tottenham Hotspur, another English team that has been pathetic with their domestic form, is hardly any consolation, given the obvious lack of competition in that tournament.
In such a scenario, Manchester United are joining the race with Chelsea to sign Liam Delap, the Ipswich Town striker, who has scored 12 goals this season.
Reaching double digits while playing for Ipswich Town is a creditable feat, but he might not serve the purpose of pushing the 20-time English champions to a greater height.
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Manchester United Have Let Some Quality Players Go To Other Clubs
The Red Devils have missed the opportunity to sign Harry Kane a couple of seasons ago.
There was hardly any competition from other English clubs to sign the English captain, but United opted to sign Rasmus Hojlund for almost £65 million.
Hojlund is still quite young but has scored only 26 goals in 92 appearances for Manchester United. Kane, on the other hand, has almost been scoring a goal every game on an average for Bayern.
United have splashed £60 million on Mason Mount as well, but have hardly reaped any rewards for it.
Delap, if signed by the Red Devils, might barely reach double digits yet again for them, but that might not be enough to take United to the vicinity of a top-four finish.
Delap might cost them relatively less at around £30 million, but United cannot afford to miss out on anyway other player of higher quality on the grounds of his being slightly more expensive.
United have let both Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho leave on loan, and hence, are short of quality wingers as well.
Someone like Kvicha Kvaratskhelia would have been a perfect fit at Old Trafford. The young Georgian winger has been superb for both Napoli and Paris Saint-Germain during the last few years and might be able to win the UEFA Champions League title with the latter this season.
The same goes for Ousmane Dembele, who joined PSG for a fee of £50 million and has scored a very impressive 33 goals in 46 matches this season.
Another example is Raphinha, who went from Leeds United to Barcelona for £55 million and is among the Ballon d’Or contenders after having a stupendous season for the Catalans.
The likes of Kvaratskhelia and Dembele have thus cost PSG less than what Hojlund and Mount have Manchester United.
However, the difference in the output between the two pairs has been staggering. Hence, if the Red Devils go on to opt for mediocrity once again in signing Delap, they might thus be repeating their mistake.
If Amorim harbours any ambition to take United back to where it belonged, he cannot do so with the help of mediocre players.
Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / Pro Sports Images
Recording Date: 26.02.2025