Where are they now? The 5 strikers Man Utd wanted to sign in 2022
Current Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Inter Milan stars are among the strikers that Manchester United wanted to sign in 2022.
At the time, United had the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani on their books, although neither of them were viewed as long-term options.
As per a BBC Sport report from the time, these were the five strikers United wanted to sign in 2022 and where all of those players have since ended up.
Erling Haaland
Both Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick wanted United to sign Haaland, albeit it would’ve been a long shot, especially in 2022.
United’s chances of landing a deal for the Norwegian star were scuppered as the club failed to qualify for the Champions League after a disappointing 2021-22 campaign.
Instead, the prolific forward ended up on the opposite side of Manchester and he’s not looked back since.
Haaland broke the Premier League goalscoring record in his debut season at City and he’s already scored over 100 goals for the club since joining in 2022.
Having won six trophies since joining Pep Guardiola’s side and recently signing a new nine-and-a-half-year contract, the 24-year-old doesn’t seem to have any regrets about his decision to join City.
Harry Kane
United have flirted with the idea of signing Kane on several occasions, but the move has never actually transpired.
While Kane would’ve been an excellent acquisition for United, the club ultimately believed that they would’ve needed to overspend in order to get him out of Tottenham.
Instead, the England skipper ended up staying at Spurs for one more season before he made the switch to Bayern Munich in the summer of 2023.
Kane has since taken to the Bundesliga with ease, having scored 73 goals in 77 appearances across all competitions since joining the German giants.
We can’t help but think that he would’ve scored a ridiculous amount of goals for United too, had the Red Devils followed through on their interest.
Alexander Isak
After a few eye-catching years with Real Sociedad, Isak was someone that United were looking at in 2022.
The Swedish forward scored 44 goals in 132 appearances while playing in Spain and plenty of other clubs including Arsenal and Newcastle were also interested at the time.
Ultimately, Newcastle won the race for his signature as they splashed £63million in order to get the deal over the line.
At the time, that seemed like a hefty transfer fee, but it’s fair to say that nowadays that amount of money seems like a snip.
The 25-year-old has since developed into one of the best strikers in the Premier League and Newcastle are now said to value him at around £150million.
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Lautaro Martinez
The Argentine forward scored 21 league goals in 2021–22 and attracted the interest of the Red Devils along with several other clubs from around Europe.
However, despite being one of the most consistent strikers in Europe for the past five years, no one has been able to tempt him away from Inter Milan.
The 27-year-old has scored 145 goals in 317 appearances for the Italian giants and has won seven trophies since joining the club in 2018.
Patrik Schick
United scouted Schick during Rangnick’s tenure at the club, but a move to Old Trafford has never materialised for the Czech Republic international.
Instead, he’s spent the last five years playing in Germany for Bayer Leverkusen. He was part of Xabi Alonso’s squad that won the league last season and he’s continued to produce the goods in 2024-25.
Across all competitions, the 29-year-old has scored 21 goals in 31 appearances, averaging a strike every 74 minutes.
With that sort of record, we wouldn’t be surprised if United rekindled their interest in the summer.