Erik ten Hag has insisted Manchester United may not afford to sign a second striker this season as he prepares to do with out first-choice ahead Rasmus Hojlund for the following few weeks.
United have confirmed Hojlund will miss a minimum of two weeks, together with the Manchester derby, after choosing up a muscle injury.
With Anthony Martial out injured as effectively, Ten Hag now has no senior strikers out there in his squad. Young winger Omari Forson is predicted to begin towards Fulham on Saturday, with Marcus Rashford shifting right into a central function to exchange Hojlund.
Asked why United did not sign one other striker final summer time, Ten Hag laughed on the suggestion earlier than insisting: “Money, FFP.”
When pointed in the direction of Martial’s injury document, Ten Hag continued: “First of all, striker options are most difficult to fill in, especially on our level. We had two strikers. I get that from Martial, but he has done for us last season great things. He is also on high payment in this club. When you bring another one in, you strike him out, so there are all arguments not to do it.
“Then there may be Marcus Rashford, who can play excellent from entrance place. So really we had three strikers in our squad to fill in. Strikers, they’re not low cost, and when you could have three strikers in your squad and also you carry a quantity 4 in, which means the potential for the others will get brief.
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“So I thought, we thought, we had options, but when it develops during the season, I wanted to bring in a striker in the winter, but it was not possible. If there was an option, of course we would consider it. It was not the case.
“We had been pleased to carry Rasmus Hojlund in, as a result of if I noticed the striker choices, and the out there striker choices, there was actually a scarcity on good choices, so we had been very pleased to sign Ramsus Hojlund, that could be a participant to the extent of Manchester United.”
United were keen to sign an experienced, affordable striker during the January transfer window but had to focus on selling players before they could pursue a forward – a move they ultimately failed to pull off.
“When I bought the information about Anthony Martial, begin of January, I actually tried to get one other striker in,” Ten Hag reflected. “Because we’re weak there. But FFP was the factor. We could not do it.
“We worked out other options how to fill this in and how to deal in the moment Rasmus Hojlund wouldn’t be available.”
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