Man Utd have reportedly identified Odion Ighalo and Islam Slimani as two possible short-term solutions to add attacking reinforcements to their squad this month.
The Red Devils have struggled for goals so far this season, as they’ve managed just 36 in 24 Premier League games thus far, giving them the lowest tally of the top six sides.
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As noted by BBC Sport, they were dealt a major blow this month as it’s been suggested that top goalscorer Marcus Rashford could be sidelined for at least six weeks with a back injury.
Given the 22-year-old has scored 19 goals and provided five assists in 31 games so far this season, his absence is a big blow for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and stretches an already light attack as they try to continue to compete on multiple fronts.
In turn, reinforcements this month are arguably needed, and Sky Sports report that Ighalo and Slimani are two names on their transfer shortlist to bring in on loan as perhaps a short-term solution for the rest of the season while Rashford is sidelined.
Ighalo currently plies his trade for Shanghai Shenhua, but the 30-year-old will be remembered in England for his spell with Watford where he scored 37 goals in 80 games in his first two seasons at Vicarage Road.
Meanwhile, Slimani is currently on loan at Monaco from Leicester City where he has scored seven goals in 13 league games, while the 31-year-old bagged 13 goals in 47 appearances for the Foxes between 2016 and 2018 before being shipped out on three different loan spells.
In turn, the two names in question do have experience of playing in England and have proven to be capable of scoring goals regularly. With that in mind, perhaps they could be useful short-term additions to the Man Utd squad.
However, given both have moved on from the Premier League, signing either player wouldn’t exactly be perceived as an ambitious move from the Red Devils, while the short-term approach would contradict what they’ve been trying to do in building for the future with the signings of young players such as Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James.
Time will tell if either arrive at Old Trafford next week, but United do arguably need attacking reinforcements before the deadline.