Erik ten Hag’s three-man wishlist to replace Cristiano Ronaldo has been cut to two as Manchester United have ruled out a move for Victor Osimhen.
United agreed to mutually terminate Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract earlier this week after he shocked the club during an interview with Piers Morgan.
Ronaldo’s position at Old Trafford was untenable after his explosive interview with Morgan in which he criticised manager Erik ten Hag and club officials.
And Sky Germany journalist Florian Plettenburg claimed over the weekend that Ten Hag has drawn up a shortlist of striker’s he wants United to be targeting to replace Ronaldo.
Among those named was Osimhen, who has scored 38 goals in 76 appearances for Napoli.
But United have already told Ten Hag that the Nigeria international will not be arriving at Old Trafford as they consider his £86m price tag to be ‘crazy’, according to Mirror.
The other two strikers on Ten Hag’s radar are Memphis Depay and Jonathan David.
Barcelona forward Depay could return to Old Trafford with Plettenberg insisting that Ten Hag ‘can really imagine bringing him back’.
David is ‘another candidate’ on Ten Hag’s wishlist with the Lille striker – who is currentlly representing Canada at the World Cup – being ‘scouted several times’ by Man Utd.
David, who has an impressive scoring record for Lille, ‘wants to make the next step’ and Plettenberg has ‘been told that Lille would release him in winter for around €50m transfer fee’.
One forward not mentioned among the three but heavily linked in the summer is Cody Gakpo.
And amid speculation that United could rekindle their interest in Gakpo once the transfer window reopens in the January, Gakpo refused to rule out moving on from PSV in the New Year.
“I’m focused now on the World Cup,” he said at a press conference. “It’s always nice to hear [transfer rumours] but I just focus here and do my best. I don’t get shy about the rumours. But it’s a team sport, it’s not about one person.
“I prefer it to be about the team. It’s nice things that people write, but I’m not too concerned with that. Right now I’m busy with the Dutch team. I’ll see what happens in the winter. In football, anything is possible.”
