This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
The Daily Express is reporting that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has stepped up his interest in RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner, but he is unlikely to sign for the club in January.
What’s the story?
In the summer, Romelu Lukaku was sold to Internazionale, leaving Manchester United with just Marcus Rashford as the only senior forward up front.
As such, another striker would not go amiss at Old Trafford. Solskjaer is said to be looking at Germany international Werner, but the winter transfer window may be too soon to bring him in as Leipzig are understandably reluctant to lose their star man midseason.
Upgrade on Rashford
Rashford is a talented footballer, and the Red Devils could certainly do a lot worse than the 21-year-old. But he just isn’t prolific enough in front of goal despite netting against Liverpool on Sunday. He has been a first team regular in the last three seasons, yet he has scored just 49 goals in 181 appearances. He has played a lot of games on the wing but, according to Transfermarkt, he has just 38 goals in the 108 appearances in which they’ve recorded his starting position as centre-forward.
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It is a much different story with 23-year-old Werner, though. He joined Leipzig in 2016 and has since bagged 69 goals in 125 appearances for Die Rotenbullen. That is more than one every two games, and his Bundesliga tallies catch the eye. He has scored 21, 13 and 16 in the last three campaigns, and he already has six in the first eight matches of the this term, too. Rashford, meanwhile, has never scored more than 10 in the Premier League.
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Not only that, but he also has 24 assists in those past three campaigns too compared to the England international’s 13. There’s no question about it: the former VfB Stuttgart man would be an upgrade on Rashford.
He is just 23 years of age as well, meaning that he has a long way ahead of him. Leipzig may not be doing too badly in the Bundesliga, but it will soon be time for him to move to a more competitive league and show exactly what he is made of.
He would cost a fair amount, of course. He is currently valued at £58.5m by Transfermarkt, and he recently signed a contract that takes him through to 2023 with his employers. But his signature would be worth it as United’s forward line continues to cry out for greater potency.