Man Utd have ideal alternative to Rasmus Hojlund in Brentford’s £50m Ivan Toney

Few Manchester United fans and certainly no one inside Erik ten Hag’s inner circle could have predicted this after securing Champions League football this summer. That Rasmus Hojlund, the scorer of nine goals in 32 games for Atalanta last season, finds himself as Manchester United’s No 1 striking target.

This in a season when Harry Kane, Victor Osimhen and Goncalo Ramos are available. Kylian Mbappe is also out there too. All ready to move for the right price. Trouble is for United and Ten Hag the right price has to be the tight price owing to FFP rules restricting their summer budget to around £120million.

Considering they have spent £116m of it Mason Mount and Andre Onana, unless they are shifting Harry Maguire, Anthony Elanga, Anthony Martial, Donny van de Beek, Scott McTominay and Fred in a hasty firesale in the next few weeks, they are where they are.

If they are lucky and shift a few of the spares they may be able to stretch to Hojlund at £50m plus add-ons but only as long as they can recoup the same amount. It is a tricky balancing act with regard to the timings with transfers not easy things to arrange.

The bigger question is whether Hojlund, 20, is the right choice for anyone apart from the finance department. He may be the next big thing but there is a pretty convincing argument that he could not be. That he is unproven at the highest level is not a huge problem given his age – he can certainly improve on what he has done so far in Serie A.

Presumably Christian Eriksen has given a thumbs-up from Denmark duty after his six goals in four games in Euro qualifying against Finland, Kazakhstan and Slovenia. But chances are if United bring him to Old Trafford he is going to take some time to acclimatise to the pace and intensity of the Premier League.

A solution to Manchester United’s lack of goals – they scored fewer than all the rest of the top six as well as Tottenham – is closer at hand. And while it would not solve their immediate problem, if they can muddle through to January with what the likes of Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford firing some home, it could be a masterstroke.

Ivan Toney is banned from competitive football until January 16 next year but United executives should be approaching the Brentford striker’s representatives now to secure his signature for January. Before his eight-month ban for 232 betting offences, he had fired his way to an England cap with some commanding performances for the Bees.

He scored 21 goals in 35 appearances in all competitions (20 in the Premier League) last season including against Manchester City (scoring two and dominating the treble winners defence), Arsenal, Newcastle, Tottenham and Brighton. In Brentford’s annihilation of Ten Hag’s side in the second game of the season he was superb providing two assists.

With another two years on his contract in west London Toney would command a fee somewhere in the region of £50m, comparable with Hojlund. No pun intended given his current troubles, there is no doubting which of the two would be the better bet.