Mauricio Pochettino is expected to receive backing from Manchester United when the January transfer window opens, and a new striker is likely to sit near the top of the agenda.<\/p>\n
The Argentine has swapped international football for what is described as a far more chaotic environment, but the United job is one he has long been linked with. The club have explored the idea for years, going back to the period when he was steering Tottenham Hotspur into Premier League title contention.<\/p>\n
His arrival in place of Michael Carrick comes at a moment when some observers view him as a manager whose best years are behind him. Yet there is still optimism among supporters that Pochettino can restore belief, given his reputation for improving players and building structure. Immediate change is not expected, especially with his demanding physical approach, but the club are reportedly prepared to support him in the transfer market so the squad can be shaped to his methods.<\/p>\n
The Telegraph reports that a striker is a priority in January after the extent of Benjamin \u0160e\u0161ko\u2019s shin injury became clear last month. The Slovenian international is due back in the new year, but a more natural option is still required.<\/p>\n
Among the names discussed is Eli Junior Kroupi. The Bournemouth forward might already have secured a major move in the summer had a foot injury in preseason not required surgery. Before that setback, he delivered a record-breaking debut campaign on the south coast, scoring the most goals by a teenager in a single Premier League season. His 13th goal helped seal Arsenal\u2019s first league title in 22 years.<\/p>\n
There was also interest in Kroupi during the summer, with Tottenham Hotspur making the strongest approach after their own ambitious window. He has since shown his quality again, setting up Amine Adli for Bournemouth\u2019s second goal in a 2-0 win over Leeds United when he returned in October.<\/p>\n
Kroupi is a forward who outperforms expected numbers and links play intelligently between the lines. He is better described as a 9.5 than a traditional No. 9, but any move in January would still require a significant fee. Even with a new manager in place, Manchester United may find more appealing options elsewhere for now, meaning this is a pursuit that could be revisited in the summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pochettino\u2019s January plans include a striker, with Kroupi one option after injuries and interest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1083],"tags":[180,182],"class_list":["post-22470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-man-utd","tag-player-news","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}