On Thursday, 20-time record English champions Manchester United head into their UEFA Europa League quarterfinal second leg against former perennial French Ligue 1 champions Olympique Lyonnais with two away goals in tow as they look to make the semifinals of European football's secondary club competition.
As has been repeatedly indicated across many platforms, the victory in the Europa League is United's only chance of making it back to the UEFA Champions League, Europe's premier club competition, next season.
Consequently, the pressure mounts on Ruben Amorim and his team this Thursday, but they may find encouragement in the passionate support of the Old Trafford crowd.
Whether or not they go on to win the Europa League at the Nuevo San Mamés, Bilbao, on May 21, 2025, their primary focus should be on the European summer transfer window and how they can replenish an honestly labouring squad.
The first port of call is between the sticks where big money-signing Andre Onana has appeared to be a new-age Massimo "The Blind Venetian" Taibi with several high-profile goalkeeping error prone displays which have proved costly for the Red Devils.
The Cameroonian international's Turkish understudy Altay Bayındır fared no better in United's latest English Premier League match, as his error-strewn top flight debut for United ended in a 4-1 reversal against a barnstoming Newcastle United at St James' Park on Sunday afternoon.
United netminders of the recent past have always proven to be strong and larger-than-life characters, from Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar to David De Gea for a large portion of his United career.
Aston Villa's FIFA World Cup-winning netminder Emilliano Martinez is the sort of strong goalkeeping presence needed to marshall a United defence looking to protect his goal.
Standing at an impressive 6 feet and five inches, Martinez is a dogged shot-stopper whose escapades and reflexes have proved key to Aston Villa's incredible resurgence under Spanish manager Unai Emery who has managed the Villans to an impressive UEFA Champions League quarterfinal run this season while they continue on their quest for more European football next season.
With United forward Marcus Rashford currently impressing on loan at Villa Park, the English international could be used as a makeweight in a cash plus player deal for the 51 times capped Argentina shot=stopper.
With Christian Eriksen also likely to end his rather lukewarm three-year spell at United at the completion of his three-year deal at the end of the current campaign, another Villa player that should be viewed as a replacement and upgrade on the ageing Dane is Youri Tielemens.
The 27-year-old Belgian international is a proven Premier League midfield schemer capable of both assisting and scoring goals, with an eye for both a pass and a goal, from central midfield while he's adept at both defending and attacking in that crucial central midfield number 8 role.
Skipper Bruno Fernandes is rumoured to be a target of dethroned European champions Real Madrid who are looking to fill a Toni Kroos sized gap in their own central midfield and should a move to the Spanish capital materialise for the buck-toothed United number 8 nicknamed the "Portuguese Magnifico", it goes without saying that a replacement for his conveyor belt of assists and goals will need replacing.
Who better to replace Fernandes' impressive assisting and goalscoring than the young Dutchman Xavi Simons?
Despite a journeyman career that has seen him feature for Paris Saint-Germain, PSV Eindhoven and RB Leipzig, 21-year-old has shown himself capable of becoming one of the best players in the world in a few short years.
This season alone Simons has an impressive 9 goals in 21 German Bundesliga games for Leipzig. His young career already has him boasting 42 goals across all competitions in 131 career matches from central attacking midfield positions, and quite significantly for United the 26 times capped Dutch playmaker has a profile similar to that of Fernandes and United would have fumbled if they were not to bid for his services in the summer. Another position that needs urgent addressing is the right flank, despite the emergence of Amad Diallo as a key player in that role earlier in the campaign before his impressive run was cut short by injury.
A player that should interest United is Italian Serie A side Bologna's Italian international Riccardo Orsolini, a 28-year-old physical specimen of a winger with pace to burn, who has notched up a mouthwatering 53 strikes in 189 Serie A outings for the side from northern Italy.
His age should expectedly be a concern for United's hierarchy whose policy to sign players under 25 might have them shun the left-footed right winger already capped seven times at international level by the Azzurri.
However, the bigwigs in charge of player recruitment at United, led by CEO Omar Berrada and football director Jason Wilcox, should also be quick to remember that some of their under-25 signings have not exactly set the scene alight at United with strikers Rasmus Højlund and Joshua Zirkzee proving concerningly blunt in front of goal with a combined six Premier League goals in a combined 59 Premier League matches this season.
The paltry return by the Dane and Dutch pair should be enough to push United towards buying an accomplished centrefoward and there is no better option currently available in the market than Napoli's Nigerian international who is currently banging them in at an alarming rate on loan at Turkish giants Galatasaray, boasting 21 goals in 24 Turkish Süper Lig outings for the table-topping Yellow-Reds.
Overall he has 29 strikes in 33 matches across all competitions for title-chasing Galatasaray.
This is the type of prolific marksman that United have been desperate for in much of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.
Having missed out on a then 29-year-old Harry Kane two years ago, another case of that under 25 signings policy advocated by part owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, United should pull out all the stops to land the 26-year-old Nigerian if they are to make a success of Amorim's first full season in charge of a United yearning for rekindle the glory days of a long gone era.
IOL SPORT