Why Man United must make a move for Man City striker Sergio Aguero this summer

Manchester United saw their 25-match unbeaten Premier League run come to an end at Arsenal on Sunday.

Jose Mourinho’s men went into the game four points adrift of neighbours Manchester City in the race for a top four spot, but it looks like the Europa League is their best and perhaps only option in returning to the Champions League next season after a 2-0 defeat at the Emirates.

Two goals in three second half minutes first from Granit Xhaka and then from former Red Devil Danny Welbeck sealed a deserved win for Arsene Wenger’s men, who in turn moved to within two points of United with a game in hand.

It means that Mourinho’s side have just three league games left to overturn a four-point deficit to City in the race for the top four, yet Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg at home to Celta Vigo has quickly become their biggest game of the campaign following Sunday’s defeat.

Sunday also brought to an end their 25-match unbeaten run in the Premier League, but several of them have been draws which have come about due to a lack of a killer instinct in the final third.

Yet one man they have been linked with in recent days would certainly go some way to addressing that issue, City’s Sergio Aguero.

The 28-year-old has once again been in excellent form for Pep Guardiola’s side this term, netting 31 times in 42 appearances, yet the arrival of Gabriel Jesus has thrown his future into doubt.

And it’s this doubt which Mourinho and United are reportedly hoping to benefit from by bringing him to Old Trafford this summer, in a move the Red Devils simply have to get done if they are to challenge for the Premier League title next season.

As aforementioned, United’s biggest issue this season has been the amount of draws they have picked up, which currently sits at 14 from their 35 Premier League games.

And 10 of those have come at Old Trafford, where the likes of Stoke, West Ham, Hull, Bournemouth, West Brom, and Swansea have all picked up unlikely points from their visits to the North East in games United have arguably dominated, yet not killed teams off when the chance was presented to them.

Much of that is down to the over-reliance on striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who had scored 28 goals in just 45 games in all competitions for the club before sustaining ligament damage last month, which is currently 17 more than the next-best at Old Trafford, young forward Marcus Rashford.

That simply isn’t good enough. A team like United, going in search of glory on a domestic and European front, cannot solely rely on a 35-year-old striker like that – the other forwards have to chip in if and when Ibrahimovic is unavailable or slightly below-par in his performance.

And that’s where Aguero fits in.

It’s unlikely that Ibrahimovic will play for United again as his recent injury has ruled him out for the rest of the season, and thus beyond his current contract at the club. That means there will be no talisman, no world-class striker to lead the line at Old Trafford, no one you could honestly say would get 20 plus goals a season.

Aguero is that man.

He is regarded by many as one of the best strikers the Premier League has ever seen having scored 120 goals in just 178 league matches for City, and breaking the 20 plus barrier in three of his five completed seasons in the English top-flight. That’s a stunning return.

He’s got everything – he is intelligent in his movement and does brilliantly to create space for himself in the box; he’s strong and athletic and is able to hold the ball up and bring others into play; and most importantly of all, he can score from anywhere inside the box when he has that half-a-second opportunity to do so.

United have created several opportunities this term, 425 to be precise (which ranks at the fourth highest in the division behind Liverpool, Tottenham, and City), yet have just 51 goals to show from it, 24 of which have come at Old Trafford.

There’s little doubt that it has been an underwhelming season at United, but there’s also little doubt that things are starting to fall into place under Mourinho – their unbeaten run wasn’t the best unbeaten run, but it was still 25 games without defeat alongside a run to the League Cup title and Europa League semi-final.

Yet next season will need to be better. They will need to be competing for the Premier League title, which means that they will need to be beating the likes of Hull, Swansea, and Bournemouth at Old Trafford, you can’t win titles without doing so.

And having a striker like Aguero, with a proven track record of scoring key goals at key times of the season against all sorts of opposition, would no doubt enhance their chances of fighting for the title next term.