Manchester United must beat Bayern Munich to the signing of Stuttgart striker Serhou Guirassy during the summer transfer window.
The Red Devils were determined to sign the Guinea international last winter. They were prepared to trigger his €17.5 million release clause.
However, a deal did not materialise. As per Fabrizio Romano, a move was ‘very close’, but they could not afford him due to Financial Fair Play issues.
Bayern Munich have since joined the race to sign the ‘top striker‘ and our opinion, United must seek to beat the German champions to his services.
Guirassy would reduce the workload on Hojlund
Rasmus Hojlund joined United from Atalanta last summer, but he had to wait for a few weeks to make his debut, having been struggling with a back problem.
The Dane could not find the net in the Premier League until late December, but he has since netted seven goals from his next six top-flight games for the club.
The 21-year-old has now amassed 13 goals in all competitions. He has the potential to become a 25-30 goal striker for United in the coming seasons.
Despite this, United’s hierarchy may want to reduce his heavy workload. Hojlund recently suffered a muscle issue on the back of consistent game time.
With Anthony Martial injured, manager Erik ten Hag barely had the chance to rotate which contributed to the Dane picking up an unfortunate injury blow.
His absence has been felt with back-to-back league defeats to Fulham and Manchester City. United only just scrapped past Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup fifth round.
In our view, Guirassy would be a clever and cost-effective signing to provide back-up to Hojlund.
The 27-year-old has been in the form of his life with 22 goals in 29 outings for Stuttgart. 20 of those have come in the Bundesliga where the club are third.
Aside from his goals, Guirassy has also excelled with his distribution, hold-up play and aerial presence.
He would be a risk-free signing with the low clause involved. Guirassy could easily be convinced with a significant hike on his €41,500-a-week wages.
The Guinean star would ideally want regular playing time, but he is unlikely to turn down a dream move to United in the prime of his playing career.
He would certainly receive more minutes at United compared to Bayern where Harry Kane tends to play through 90 minutes in virtually every game.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com & Capology.com
