Ten Hag discusses striker situation

Wednesday 28 December 2022 10:00

Erik ten Hag was quizzed again on Manchester United's search for a striker, following the 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest.

A number of official broadcasters raised the subject in his post-match interviews at Old Trafford, with the January transfer window due to open in the new year.

During his press conference, Erik was also asked about Liverpool agreeing a fee for PSV Eindhoven forward Cody Gakpo, and replied: "I'm not looking at other teams, I am looking at our team. I am convinced of the squad we have and have confidence in their abilities, individually and as a team, to compete with all those teams."

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Gakpo's name also came in up in conversation with Amazon Prime Video, as the manager reiterated a desire to bring in a new forward, following the departure of last term's top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo.

"I don't talk about individual cases," stated Ten Hag. "We are looking for offensive players. We are looking for a striker - it would be good because, with the games coming, there are so many, every third day, and we want to play in all the competitions that we are now in, and stay in those competitions, and hopefully keep going until the end of the season.

"So you need players in the squad to balance it all. I think we are always in the market but it has to match the sporting criteria, but also the financial criteria, and we will do what we can to bring that player in that we need."

Nonetheless, the boss insisted his current forwards have enough in their locker to cause problems for any defences in the Premier League.

"I know we have a really good frontline," he added. "I don't think there is a back four or back five in the league that would like to play against that frontline because it is difficult to defend all their movements, the technical abilities they have and the co-operation they have. And they can finish. You have to be focused 100 per cent over 90 minutes, otherwise they will score and I am happy that they scored today.

"We have a good squad but we have so many games to cover. We need numbers to cover all the games, to keep the players fresh, which is also why I swapped the front players tonight, to keep them fresh for Saturday as well. We want players in but those front four [Martial, Fernandes, Antony and Rashford] didn't play that often together in the first part of the season.

"I think maybe only two games they played together so, if we can bring them more often, together on the pitch, I am sure there will be better progress and we can score more goals."

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