Lee Sharpe: Manchester United are crying out for one of two top European strikers

Former Manchester United star Lee Sharpe has called on Manchester United to go out and sign one of Erling Haaland or Harry Kane to take the club to the next level and secure a Premier League title.   

Speaking to William Hill, the player who was signed by Sir Alex Ferguson explained how Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side need to find the missing piece and identify a player who can regularly bag goals that will help the club close the gap on their Premier League rivals Manchester City next season.

He said: “I think Erling Halaand is making himself a statement signing. The types of goals he’s scoring and how he’s scoring them would suit United down to the ground. I think Harry Kane would fit that bill too.

“There’s talk of fighting to keep Edinson Cavani as well, so I’m not sure if they’ve got another centre forward on the shopping list at the moment if they are trying to keep Cavani.

“Cavani has shown his quality, and there’s no doubting his ability. I’ve heard he’s got the option of moving back to South America. But for me, I would try and go and get Haaland or Kane who is going to bang in loads of goals and play every week. It’s what United need at the moment.”

He continued: “Jadon Sancho is also a class act. I think he’s got enough experience in the Bundesliga, Champions League, and international scene to come in at United and hit the ground running. I think he could come in and offer that world class ability to the team because I think he’s quality.”

Following United’s win at Spurs, and looking ahead to the Granada match in the Europa League this week, Sharpe believes the club need to start matches better heading into the next season, in what he thinks will be crucial for the current Old Trafford boss Solskjaer.

He said: “I don’t think the performance against Granada was one of their better performances, but they had spells where they looked good but when you’re not on top of the game and still winning it’s great. They’ve done enough to get themselves through to the next round, which is all you’re looking for in a European competition.

“On Sunday, Spurs came at them and were out the blocks sharpish and again United started a little bit slower than they would have liked to. Then they went full steam ahead and were by far the better team in the second half.

“At times we’ve seen United start slow and they tend to give a lot of early goals away and had to come from behind in a lot of games this season, which is not ideal in the Premier League, but offensively they can be absolutely magnificent. They have some magnificent players who can pop the ball around and score some great team goals, as well as individual goals.

“The performances against Spurs will give them a lot of confidence going into the second leg against Granada, and if they get through that and have a good run of form to end the season then it’s been a good one for Ole (Gunnar Solskjaer).”

Sharpe added: “Looking at Ole’s progress report, I think it’s still a little bit the same. There has been progress but at the bottom of the report card you still have ‘you could do better’ there.

“Sometimes you look at games and think they look flat and there’s nothing really happening. But then again, looking at the big picture, if they come second and then win the Europa League then you have to put it down as a good season. They’ve made small strides and you’d hope that if they make good summer signings then they can come out and say they are challenging for the title.”