BBC Sport pundit Danny Murphy is adamant that Manchester United would be on par with Manchester City this season if they had signed Harry Kane in the summer.

The Red Devils have been pretty blunt in front of goal in recent weeks, with some blaming the absence of a world-class number nine, and Murphy feels things would have been different if they had shelled out on the England captain:

“Hypothetically, if United at the start of the season had got Kane and paid £120million, would they be 10-15 points better off? Yes. Would we be talking about Ole being a failure or would we be saying they are competing?”

It must be pointed out that Kane is nearly 28 years of age and United have become more and more hesitant about spending large sums on players who are closer to the end of their careers.

On top of the financial problems caused by the global health crisis, it would be overly critical to accuse United of not spending £120m on Kane.

The Tottenham forward is undoubtedly a fantastic striker but it’s likely Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side will focus on signing someone younger, such as Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland, in order to add goals to their attack.