Man Utd have £17m Plan B as hopes of Rasmus Hojlund swap deal go up in flames

With United’s financial limitations at the moment, Ten Hag will have to wait until multiple players have left to sign the Dane. And it may not be easy to offload them all with a bid for Fred from Galatasaray having been rejected due to it falling way below expectations.

The Red Devils may struggle to get the prices they desire for out-of-favour players. They want £20m for Fred, £50m for Harry Maguire, £30m for Dean Henderson and £30m for Scott McTominay. There will be plenty of back-and-forth negotiating before agreements can be reached.

Ten Hag though would ideally like to get a new striker in as early as possible to aid his ambitions of being Premier League and Champions League challengers. Yet while United wait to see if they can sign Hojlund, perhaps Porto’s Mehdi Taremi could become a cheap option in whom the Dutch tactician could rely on if the Atalanta man never arrives at Old Trafford this summer.

Taremi’s agent Borna Khoramdel, the CEO of Arvand Sport who represent the striker, posted a picture of the United badge to his Instagram post last week while tagging Old Trafford as his location. It is thought he was not actually at United’s stadium but the post is nonetheless enticing.

United have expressed interest in Taremi – who scored twice against England at the Qatar World Cup last year – already. That’s with Tottenham’s Harry Kane too expensive at around £100m. Bayern Munich are looking to snap up the England captain, who will be available on a free next summer if he does not leave Spurs in the coming weeks.

Taremi would be much cheaper than the likes of Hojlund, Kane and Randal Kolo Muani with a price tag of around £17m. The Iranian is 30 years old and so is not the long-term solution in the position that a Hojlund would be – but he would be a very good stopgap.

With Marcus Rashford thriving out wide on the left and Anthony Martial’s injury record questionable, Taremi – a player championed by United legend Rio Ferdinand – represents a qualified option. He scored five goals in seven Champions League starts last season – and netted 22 times in Liga Portugal.

He ended on 31 goals and 14 assists in 51 games in all competitions, and that return wasn’t a one-off. He produced 26 goals and 17 assists in 48 outings for Porto in 2021-22. And the 2020-21 season yielded 23 goals and 18 assists in 48 matches. Taremi has the ability to be a proficient goalscorer and goal-creator, and certainly a target man more prolific than Wout Weghorst.

It wouldn’t be the perfect summer – signing Hojlund after Andre Onana then adding another centre-back and a central midfielder would be. But in a window where Ten Hag faces having to compromise a little, Taremi could be a bargain buy – especially if United can go and get a Kane-level No 9 next summer too.