Man Utd ‘make contact’ for 23-goal Czech star as transfer policy ditched in £26m move
Manchester United have reportedly made ‘contact’ for the signing of Patrik Schick, who is a different ‘profile’ than they would usually go for, but he is ‘considered interesting’.
United’s forwards have not covered themselves in glory this season. In 32 Premier League games so far, the Red Devils have scored 38 goals. Outside of the bottom three, only West Ham and Everton have scored less.
No United player has reached 10 Premier League goals yet this season, and in terms of central strikers, neither Rasmus Hojlund nor Joshua Zirkzee have scored more than three.
The former will reportedly be shown the door in the summer, and United will look to improve their attack.
They could do so with Bayer Leverkusen striker Schick, as Patrick Berger states the Red Devils are ‘monitoring the situation’ of the Czech No.9.
Though they would ‘prefer a younger profile’ Schick (29) is ‘considered interesting’. As such, initial contact ‘was made’ but there have been no steps taken beyond that, and he’s said to be just one of ‘many names’ on the list at Old Trafford.
The Czech striker would reportedly command a fee of €25-30million (£21.4-26m). It is also believed that the Premier League is his preferred destination, and though there is interest in him from Saudi clubs, a move to the Middle East is ‘not currently an option’.
Schick has 77 goals in 163 games for Leverkusen since joining them in 2020, and 23 of them have come this season. That means he’s outscoring every United player, and is a long way north of their central strikers.
Schick might well share duties with Zirkzee if he is to head to Old Trafford, though. The Dutchman will reportedly survive at United in the summer, as they have ‘faith that he will keep improving’.
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They would have hoped that he’d have hit the ground running, but the 23-year-old, with just seven goals in all competitions since joining United in the summer, has not done that.
At 29 years of age and with a number of good seasons behind him, Schick could help to show Zirkzee how to go about things. United have had mixed results with singing more experienced forwards, though.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic went well, but he was a huge name, while Wout Weghorst and Odion Ighalo were not great and did not last very long. Schick is probably between them in terms of proficiency, so United would hope he’d have a decent time of it were he to join.
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