Erik ten Hag has been warned he will have to do more than spend £170m-plus on Harry Kane and Mason Mount to close the gap on Manchester City and make Manchester United great again.
United treble-winning legend Andy Cole has been analysing how the Dutch coach can restore his former club to the top of the football tree and does not think transfer targets Kane and Mount are necessarily the answer.
The former Premier League goal machine turned pundit told https://punters.pub/: “Harry Kane, if he goes to Manchester is going to bring goals, but bringing one player into score goals is not going to win you the league.
“If you look at the City team that’s just won the league, it’s not just about Erling Haaland getting all the goals he’s got. If you look at where the goals are coming from now, at the moment, coming from midfield to play a special brand of football.
“Ultimately, he would make Manchester United better, but I’m not going to buy into that. If Man United get Harry Kane, they’ve got a good chance to win the league. But if one player is going to make such a difference, why doesn’t every team in the top four by one player to try and win the league? Because it’s not that easy. It’s definitely not that easy.”
Ten Hag spent £220milion on five players in last summer’s window and won the League Cup, but finished 14 points behind City in the Premier League table as well as succumbing to their arch rivals in the FA Cup Final.
Is Mason Mount worth the hefty price tag?
While not ruling out the value of trying to sign £100m-rated Tottenham and England record scorer Kane, Cole is dismissive of United’s pursuit of Chelsea’s attacking midfielder Mason Mount.
Like Kane, England team-mate Mount is entering the final year of his contract. Chelsea want around £70m for the 24-year-old, even though he was still recovering from pelvic surgery as the London sides season ended miserably.
Cole commented: “If you’re going to move Manchester United forward, you got to turn round and say to yourself ‘would the players that Manchester looking to buy or bring in, would they be in a team like Manchester City?’
“That’s how you’re going to close the gap for me, personally. Like I just touched on previously, would Manchester City look to bring in a player like Mason Mount to make them better?
“Because if you’re going to close the gap, you can’t be buying players that are not going to improve you. Now, that’s the way I look at things. So if he comes to Manchester United, would he make Manchester United better?
“He could do, but, only time will tell. It’s not as if Chelsea pulling up any trees, were they? So that’s the million dollar question as well. But like I keep saying, only time will tell.
“If you look at Manchester City, what they have as a team and the quality they have, do you think one player that may not buy is going to catch up with Manchester with all the quality they have? It’s not feasibly possible.
“That means Liverpool could just buy one player, then they will win the league. Or Tottenham could buy one player. It doesn’t work like that. It’s about buying better players, better recruitment to move the club forward.
“ You can’t be buying the same kind of plays that you have now because you don’t move forward, so you got to try better that. So fingers crossed they’ll be able to do that in the summer.”
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