With the arrival of Ineos and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Manchester United are in for an enormous summer.
It is reported that the new owner is willing to allow a ‘significant transfer spend’, with the aim of taking Erik ten Hag’s team back among the elite.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at which star could become the new star at Old Trafford and even become their best signing since Cristiano Ronaldo.
Man Utd’s search for an attacker
Kylian Mbappe is reportedly set to leave PSG in the summer, with his only destination seeming to be Real Madrid.
This is the first step to a domino effect, which could see Vinicius Junior leave the Spanish giants, with reports in Spain claiming that United are interested in signing the fleet-footed forward and are even willing to make an offer for the former Flamengo star.
The report goes on to say that United would be open to forking out around €180m (£150m) for the Brazilian, which would most definitely be a club record fee – eclipsing the £89m spent on Paul Pogba in 2016.
Vinicius could be the perfect Hojlund partner
There’s no doubt that the signing of Ronaldo in 2003 for £12m will go down as one of the best transfers that the club has ever made. The tricky, confident winger entertained the United faithful weekly while also, most importantly, delivering trophies.
Across two spells in his Red Devils career, ‘CR7’ played 346 matches, scoring 145 goals and providing 64 assists, but when he arrived, the Portuguese starlet wasn’t already regarded as one of the best players in the world, unlike Vinicius, who has been lighting up La Liga and the Champions League for the past three years.
Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has described the 23-year-old as “the best in the world” after his performance in the 4-0 win over Girona when he scored and registered two assists, and this ability to show up on the big occasion and carry the team to glory is what makes him so special. Furthermore, the table below shows Vinicius’ stats from the last year across the top European leagues.
|
Vinicius Junior’s Stats |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Stats |
Vinicius |
Positional Percentile |
|
Goals |
0.40 |
Top 17% |
|
Assists |
0.46 |
Top 2% |
|
Successful take-ons |
3.99 |
Top 3% |
|
Carries into penalty area |
4.96 |
Top 1% |
|
Touches (Att pen) |
9.56 |
Top 1% |
|
Stats via FBref |
||
As you can see by the table above, Vinicius backs up the compliments and claims with his statistics, as he ranks among the best for almost every attacking metric. Rasmus Hojlund is the player that would benefit the most from the Madrid star, and together, they would be a frightening duo.
Hojlund has begun to show his true ability since Boxing Day, scoring seven Premier League goals and providing two assists, which not only proves he knows how to find the back of the net but also indicates that he’s capable of bringing others into the game.
With Vinicius in the team, supplying a never-ending amount of creativity, as displayed by his rank in the top 2%, 3%, and 1% for assists, successful take-ons, and carries into the penalty area, respectively, across the top five European leagues, Hojlund’s xG and number of chances to score would skyrocket, with the Dane only receiving 6.48 xG all season.
However, it isn’t just assists that Vinicius would bring, as he is one of the deadliest finishers in Europe, as shown by his rank in the top 17% for goals scored. Having another reliable goalscorer in the team will help Hojlund tremendously, taking some of the responsibility off his shoulders and allowing him to truly flourish and play with even more confidence and freedom.
Overall, Vinicius would elevate United to an entirely new level, and he does have the potential to make Ten Hag’s side one that challenges for silverware on all fronts, which is what a club like United should be doing.
