Manchester United great, Andy Cole has expressed his shock after the signing of Wout Weghorst over a “natural fit” Victor Osimhen.
And Cole, who won five Premier League titles during six years at Old Trafford, believes he knows the perfect man to fill that role is Osimhen, who has scored 12 goals to fire Napoli to the top of the Serie A table.
“I think like everybody else, I was a bit surprised. He had a very good World Cup, scoring a couple of goals against Argentina, and he’s done well at Besiktas, but it’s come from nowhere,” Cole told Betway via Punch.
“I think the interesting thing is what the manager is looking for because Weghorst is 6’6”, which is different to the usual profile of United strikers. If you think back to Ruud van Nistelrooy, myself, we were off-the-shoulder strikers.
“(Anthony) Martial has been the same more recently. It’s interesting that they’ve brought in somebody like this now because I’d thought he’d want a different profile in the summer. You want to be getting crosses into Weghorst, rather than getting him away in behind.
“I think Victor Osimhen at Napoli is very good and could be the long-term natural fit. The question is whether Napoli would be prepared to let him go. He’s rangy, got a good first touch, scores goals and is a decent size as well. I watched him play against Liverpool and he was more than prepared to link the play and then run in behind.”
Weghorst has joined the Red Devils on loan for the rest of the season from Burnley, with Erik ten Hag having been keen to boost his attacking options. But United will likely be back in the market for at least one forward in the summer window.
Dare Ogun