Manchester United have been reportedly presented with the chance of signing three experienced Premier League forwards, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Jamie Vardy and Callum Wilson. Whether they actually snap up any of these figures remains to be seen.
United’s need for more attacking firepower is painfully blunt. Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo were the team’s joint-leading Premier League goalscorers last season with a modest haul of eight.
The only club with a more underwhelming top scorer was rock-bottom Southampton, whose Paul Onuachu found the net just four times—as many as United’s No. 9 Rasmus Højlund and one more than Joshua Zirkzee.
Ruben Amorim has overseen the arrival of Matheus Cunha and is expected to also welcome Bryan Mbeumo into a rejuvenated frontline this summer, but the need for a new striker to operate in front of these more withdrawn forwards persists.
Given the financial constraints imposed upon a United side which won’t be competing in any European competition during the upcoming campaign, it has been suggested that the Red Devils could be forced to recruit a more modestly priced centre-forward.
|
Stat (2024–25) |
Dominic Calvert-Lewin |
Jamie Vardy |
Callum Wilson |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Age |
28 |
38 |
33 |
|
Minutes |
1,609 |
2,823 |
370 |
|
Goals |
3 |
9 |
0 |
|
Assists |
1 |
4 |
0 |
|
Days Injured |
110 |
8 |
191 |
Stats via FBref.
Despite their dire 2024–25 campaign, United’s mass appeal remains.
The Athletic claim that all three of Calvert-Lewin, Vardy and Wilson have been “offered” to Amorim’s side after becoming free agents this summer. The same report casts doubt over the completion of any deal and “it is expected” that United would only consider progressing down this avenue towards the end of the transfer window if they miss out on other targets.
It is a wide-ranging trio of options. A decade separates Calvert-Lewin (28) and Vardy (38) with Wilson slipping right in the middle, aged 33. Despite his seniority, Vardy enjoyed the best individual campaign last term, racking up nine goals while—almost as impressively—starting 35 matches for a Leicester City side which eventually slipped out of the division’s back door.
Wilson, by contrast, was afforded just two starts for Newcastle United, unsurprisingly unable to force his way past Alexander Isak after missing 20 of the first 24 games of the season through injury. Calvert-Lewin has struggled with his fitness demons in recent years, sitting out three consecutive months with a hamstring issue to begin 2025.
Intriguingly, there is an alternative scenario which could see Calvert-Lewin replace Wilson at St. James’s Park with Newcastle interested in the Englishman, according to The Telegraph.
