Manchester United only just managed to bring in a new striker in the summer transfer window.
The club spent the majority of the summer fixated on signing Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund but they were unable to actually do the deal, as he remained in Germany.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have had to rely on Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, and Mason Greenwood up front, and the three are versatile forwards who can also operate on the wing rather than actual out-and-out strikers.
The signing of Edinson Cavani seemed to somewhat rectify the hole in the squad, but it was a free transfer and one struck at the very end of the window, leading it to smack of a panic buy.
There were other options in the window and Paul Ince, the former United midfielder, believes they made the wrong choice.
Indeed, he believes Wolves forward Raul Jimenez should have been the priority instead.
The Mexico international scored 27 goals in 55 games in all competitions last season and has already scored four times this term.
Speaking to CaughtOffside, Ince claimed that the 29-year-old would have been a much more astute buy than Cavani, who will turn 34 in February.
He said: “There are so many players out there who could have come into that Man United team. You look at Thomas Partey, Raul Jimenez.
“Last season United needed to bring in a striker and they go and get Odion Ighalo from China. What was that about? Go and spend £40m on Jimenez. He’s a proven striker, a scorer. You know, and then they go and get Edinson Cavani who will hardly play.
“You’ve got to look at the structure, the recruitment, the scouting system and think ‘what are they looking at?’ There’s a lot of good players out there, top, top players. Go and get these players. But they haven’t.”
GIVEMESPORT’S Harry Sherlock says…
Jimenez would undoubtedly have been a better signing than Cavani.
Not only is the latter ageing, he has absolutely no Premier League experience, whereas Jimenez has been banging in the goals for Wolves since his arrival in 2019.
In total, he has scored 34 goals in 83 Premier League games, which is a decent record for a player at a club outside of the top six.
He is valued at £36m by Transfermarkt so one has to wonder whether the club would have been able to snap him up for the £40m Ince has suggested.
Nevertheless, he would have slotted seamlessly into Solskjaer’s squad, and is the kind of player who would thrive if given the service of the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Paul Pogba, and Martial.
Unfortunately, though, this is a story of what might have been.