Man City and Man Utd strikers January targets for Barcelona

A new era began at Manchester United on Monday, as the club announced the appointment of Ralf Rangnick as their new interim manager. 

The German takes over from former Red Devils midfielder Michael Carrick, who had taken charge of their past two games, and his first game in charge will be when they host Arsenal on Thursday.

The former RB Leipzig boss faces several challenges in his first venture into English football, as United currently sit eighth in the Premier League table, having won just five of their first 13 league games.

One of Rangnick’s toughest challenges will be tightening up the club’s leaky defence, which has conceded 30 goals and kept just three clean sheets in 19 games across all competitions so far this term.

He will also be tasked with keeping the likes of Jesse Lingard and Donny van de Beek, both of whom had been shunned by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for much of the season, happy.

Now, it appears that the new United boss will also have another challenge on his hands, with Anthony Martial reportedly a target for Barcelona, as per Marca.

Martial has struggled for game time.

The report claims that Catalan giants Barca have identified the Frenchman as a target as they look to bolster their attacking ranks.

The 25-year-old has fallen out of favour at Ole Trafford of late, with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood and Edinson Cavani all seemingly ahead of him in the pecking order up front.

It is believed that the La Liga side could even make an audacious loan move in January for the player, with a view to then making the move permanently at the end of the season.

However, fellow Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo claim that it is in fact Manchester City striker Ferran Torres who Barcelona will target as their first choice.

The report suggests that the Spanish side have been quite open about their interest in the Spanish international, with vice-president Rafael Yuste even admitting that they are ‘working (on the deal) with discretion’.

It is also reported, by Sport, that Barcelona club officials spoke to Torres at Monday evening’s Ballon D’Or ceremony.

The club apparently spoke to the player, who has been out for over a month with a broken bone in his foot, in a bid to tempt him in to signing for the club.

Torres is apparently keen on the idea of a move to Catalunya, and has reportedly even asked City boss Pep Guardiola to help to push the move through.

The 21-year-old only joined City last year, however, and having impressed during his time in England, the Citizens would likely command a fee much higher than the £20 million that they paid to sign him from Valencia in 2020.