Imagine, for a second, that Manchester United have managed to engineer a one-on-one situation with the opposition goalkeeper. Which of the players at Erik ten Hag’s disposal are you backing to stick it away?
Rasmus Hojlund, certainly. The deadly Dane’s tally of just 13 goals in all competitions says less about his own performances and the lack of service provided for him, after all. Alejandro Garnacho, too, the Argentine already a very cool customer in the final third.
Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes, maybe. But that’s about it. Four players. Four you may be tempted to hang your hat on in a one-v-one opportunity.
With their goal difference standing in minus numbers even in mid-April, how Manchester United could do with a finisher as reliable and as convincing as a man who broke a club-record on Saturday, becoming the first player in 60 years of Bundesliga football to hit 25 goals in a single season for VFB Stuttgart.
Serhou Guirassy an option for Manchester United
“To a certain extent, the superlatives are running out,” sighs the adoring VfB coach Sebastian Hoeness, Serhou Guirassy racing in behind the Eintracht Frankfurt backline and finishing with almost uneccessary panache, locating the top corner in style.
“He has now broken the record (set by Mario Gomez in 2008/09). And it’s great. He’s a great player, a great striker, and a great guy who’s just really good for us.”
Guirassy’s career-best tally looks all the more astounding when you consider he has started only 20 games in a season interrupted by injury.
There were concerns that the well-travelled forward had broken his purple patch when consigned to the sidelines in the winter. But, scoring in six successive Bundesliga games and finding the target seven times in that run, those concerns have been dispelled with as much ruthlessness as Guirassy puts away the chances that fall into his path.
And if Guirassy’s suitors had reservations during the January transfer window – was this the beginning of something great or a fleeting spell of brilliance from a 28-year-old who had never before ascended such heights? – the £15 million release clause in his Stuttgart contract looks all the more tempting a few months on, especially with a Bundesliga record in his back pocket.
25-goal striker has a very affordable release clause
“There have already been two change periods in which he could have left us. He stayed both times,” Stuttgart sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth tells Sky Sports, hoping that a top-four finish which eep the former Rennes striker in Germany.
“If we reach the Champions League, maybe he will think again (about leaving). Certainly he will Background discussions are taking place. We’re trying to do our best to keep him here.”
Guirassy, per Fabrizio Romano, is one of the strikers on Man United’s list. If the Red Devils want an experienced, affordable frontman who to provide competition for Hojlund while not demanding a place in the first XI, then Guirassy certainly appears to tick more boxes than most.
