Wout Weghorst signs loan deal with Manchester United
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Manchester United Football Club has signed 30-year-old Dutch striker Wout Weghorst on a €3 million loan deal until the end of the season. Weghorst, whose primary club is Burnley football, had played at the beginning of this season on loan at Turkish side Besiktas where he played 18 matches with 13 goal involvements.
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The move to sign Weghorst was made to solve Manchester United’s lack of a quality striker. With current striker Anthony Martial dealing with bad form and injuries, the English side desperately needed to find another quality player to fill the position. Due to the likelihood that the club will be sold to new owners in the coming months, United looked for a short-term option to solve this issue rather than spending big on a long-term striker.
Weghorst is a strong signing for first-year Head Coach Erik Ten Hag as it is a cheap deal to fill a hole in a team with a promise to compete for the league title and other competitions. United, currently in fourth place in the English Premier League, has hit a hot streak winning nine of their last ten games. However, despite their success in recent games, according to Premier League stats, United sits ninth in the league in goals scored with 27 goals this season and fifth in ‘big chances missed,’ with 29.
This is where Weghorst will succeed, coming in as a prolific goal scorer inside the opposing team’s 18-yard box. Manchester United tactically set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation where they look to dominate with a high line of pressure and high percentages of possession each game.
With the quality and mobility of United’s wingers Marcus Rashford and Antony, United looks to use a striker who can drop between the lines to create chances, make runs into the box, and score goals. These are the qualities United will get with Wout Weghorst. Weghorst, who stands at 6-6, is the perfect build-up striker for this team.
In Ten Hag’s time as a manager, he has always favored a tall striker with these qualities, with the shortest striker he has used being 6-3. While tall, Weghorst is very mobile and loves playing with the ball at his feet. In his time at his former club, Wolfsburg in Germany, he looked to drop between the lines to maintain possession and run at the backline to create chances for his wingers. He is also a prolific in-the-box goal scorer scoring 125 league goals in his career, with 124 coming from within the opposition’s 18-yard box.
These stats are what United’s side has been needing for years, with the last true poacher for the team being Zlatan Ibrahimovic from 2016-18. Weghorst makes intelligent runs in the box, which the team will look to utilize with their creative wingers and fullbacks who like to get high up the field and make crosses into the box.
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While it is confirmed that Wout Weghorst was not registered in time for their Saturday derby against Manchester City, expect a debut for the dutchmen in their next game against Crystal Palace. The future is bright for Manchester United, and new signing Weghorst will look to improve the lineup in his short stint for the club.