Man Utd plot move for “one of the best STs in the PL”

This season, Manchester United’s striking options have certainly struggled a bit in front of goal. The Red Devils only have two senior out-and-out number nines at the club after Rasmus Hojlund’s summer departure, and it certainly feels like they’ve felt the impact of that lack of depth.

Manager Ruben Amorim has, perhaps unfairly, given Joshua Zirkzee limited opportunities this term, with the silky Dutchman only playing 11 Premier League games, bagging twice.

That is the same number of goals as Benjamin Sesko, with their summer signing from RB Leipzig now on a run of eight games without a goal.

It might not be a surprise, then, to learn United are linked with a new striker this winter.

Man United target Premier League striker

It does seem as though Zirkzee’s time at Old Trafford might be coming to an end in the next few weeks.

After another poor season at Old Trafford, he has been strongly linked with a move back to Serie A, with Roma touted as a potential destination for the United number 11.

Well, their replacement might come soon enough, and from within the top flight. According to a report from journalist Pete O’Rourke, the 13-time Premier League champions ‘are considering a move’ to sign Crystal Palace and France international Jean-Philippe Mateta.

The situation surrounding the three-cap French star at the moment is an interesting one. He is out of contract at the end of the 2026/27 season, and he is ‘stalling over a new deal’ according to O’Rourke.

This could give United the chance to move in and sign him for cheap, with Palace valuing him at a reported £26m over the summer.

Sky Sports have backed up those claims, revealing on Thursday that the Eagles forward is indeed a player they have ‘a long-term interest in’.

Why Mateta would improve United

In the last two and a half seasons, the 28-year-old has developed a reputation as “one of the best strikers in the Premier League”, according to Como scout Ben Mattinson. The Frenchman has become a key and consistent source of goals for the Eagles.

In 148 Premier League appearances, the striker, who hails from just outside of Paris, has bagged 45 goals and assisted nine. His best two goalscoring seasons came in 2023/24, when he scored 16 league goals and 2024/25, a campaign in which he grabbed 14 top-flight goals.

After 19 league outings this season, he’s already found the back of the net seven times, so he is roughly on course to score a similar number of goals again, showing excellent consistency.

Amorim would surely love someone with that level of experience in his squad. The strikers at Old Trafford have certainly struggled, with Sesko one of the players who has not really found his best form yet.

It might only be a matter of time, but United fans are not yet seeing the same sort of form the Slovenian showed for RB Leipzig.

In two Bundesliga seasons, he hit 13 and 14 goals before getting his big move, so two goals in Red might well be seen as underwhelming.

The underlying stats from this season suggest that the Palace striker would be an upgrade on Sesko. For example, Mateta has a 16.28% conversion rate compared to just 8.33% conversion rate for the new Red Devils striker.

Having a striker with the quality and experience of Mateta in the squad would certainly benefit United’s number 30. Not only because he can learn from someone more experienced, but also because it would take the pressure off him as United’s main number nine.

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This is surely a deal with which Amorim’s side cannot go wrong. It is a cut-price fee for a Premier League-proven striker, a plug-and-play attacker who would slot into the same system as he plays at Palace and improve the squad.

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