EXCLUSIVE: Louis Saha Says Misfiring United Duo Are Facing Harsh “Reality” After Scoring Just 5 Goals This Season

Ex-Manchester United striker Louis Saha says he doesn’t believe either Rasmus Hojlund or Joshua Zirkzee are currently ready to lead the line for his former club.

Hojlund has scored just 2 Premier League goals this season, while Zirkzee has only done slightly better, finding the back of the net 3 times. Speaking to spaceportsweden.com, Saha says the pair need “a top striker” to take the pressure off them:

“I think that Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee are good players. They work hard, you can see that they’re trying their best. Can they score 20 goals a season? Not right now, maybe in the future, but certainly not at the moment. I am not saying that they don’t have the quality.”


“The reality is that these are two players that have been thrown into the deep end of Premier League football. Manchester United are in a transitional period, and it’s difficult to blood players while the club are under so much pressure. It’s really difficult for them.”

“I think they need players around them to show them what it takes to be a top striker at Manchester United, and there is nobody there that can do that at the moment. When I joined, it was easy for me because I had some unbelievable players to learn from like Solskjaer and Ruud van Nistelrooy, I had players to teach me but also players that would challenge me to raise my level of performance otherwise I wouldn’t play.”

“At the same time, having players of that level at the club took the pressure off my shoulders. In this United team, the players are nervous. Hojlund and Zirkzee are nervous. They are not being given the best conditions to develop into top players because of the situation at the club at the moment.”

Will United sign a new No.9 in January?

The prospect of the Red Devils recruiting the forward that Saha wants this month is pretty low. The main focus for the Red Devils is believed to be on signing potential replacements for Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho.

While the former has effectively been frozen out by head coach Ruben Amorim, the latter could be sold to balance the books, with Chelsea and Napoli among his suitors.

Who could be signed before Deadline Day?

Bayern Munich’s Mathys Tel is one of the club’s top targets, but he is also being pursued by the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham, while an approach is more likely to be made if either Rashford or Garnacho leave.

An offer for Christopher Nkunku is said to be under consideration as well, with a loan bid being contemplated. Saha also weighed in on whether United should pursue the Chelsea forward. Read his comments in our article here.

Find out who is in Manchester United’s first-team squad for the 2024/2025 season here

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David Tully

David Tully

David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for National World's Football News Network.