Manchester United legend Brian McClair is demanding his former club dive back into the transfer market this summer to sign a proven Premier League goal-scorer.
The Red Devils have already added one forward to their squad this summer, following the capture of former Bayern Munich and Bologna striker Joshua Zirkzee, but McClair isn't convinced the 23-year-old Dutchman can be a difference maker after scoring 11 Serie A goals last season.
"To be honest, I don't really know anything about Zirkzee but United's policy now seems to be to go for youngsters, which I can understand on the one hand," McClair tells FourFourTwo in an exclusive chat. Read Brian McClair's Premier League score predictions for each game week of the Premier League season on Gambling.com.
"But to be successful in English football, you need a player that's going to score you at least 20 league goals a season" he continues. "In almost every past campaign that's been true of the league winners. You can even look at the recent Jurgen Klopp Liverpool sides that challenged Manchester City every year. They often had three forwards scoring a lot of goals and it still wasn't always enough.
"Scoring goals has been a huge problem at Manchester United in recent seasons but particularly last year. You need to be able to score more than one goal a game at this level. The top teams do that."
Despite some promising showings from last season's new signing, Rasmus Hojlund, McClair still wants to see some additional firepower added to Erik ten Hag's squad.
"Hojlund improved towards the end, so hopefully he can keep pushing on," the Scot explains. "Then you have Marcus Rashford, who's never been a wonderful finisher but he did have a good year two seasons ago. You expect more from him this year. Alejandro Garnacho has shown he can pounce and score important goals and win penalties.
"But I'd still like to see even more competition – especially with Zirkzee lacking Premier League experience. I'd love to see someone a bit different with pedigree in English football. Ivan Toney would be a great fit. He's goig into the last year of his contract and that could make things easier in terms of getting a deal done. I think United should go for it."
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