If Manchester United are serious about progressing under Ruben Amorim, then they must sign a world-class striker this summer.

With just over a week of the January transfer window remaining, United are looking increasingly unlikely to add to their attacking ranks. The club does not have a budget this month and the winter market is notoriously difficult for getting business done.

The likelihood is that it will not be until the summer that the first stage of the rebuilding project Amorim so desperately needs to oversee will come to fruition. The squad needs gutting and rebuilding. United have spent a small fortune in recent years and got progressively worse. They can ill-afford to repeat mistakes of yesteryear.

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Guilty of committing countless mistakes on the recruitment front in recent years, few decisions have been as costly as the one that saw them spend north of £100million on bringing Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee to Old Trafford. Drafted in at 20 and 23 respectively, United signed both with the mindset they were adding two young players to their squad with plenty of potential. However, what was really needed in both the summer of 2023 and the summer of 2024 was an established goalscorer.

Hojlund scored 10 times in his first and only season at Atalanta prior to joining United and Zirkzee netted 12 for Bologna last term. They have scored just 11 goals between them in United colours so far this season.

In Hojlund's defence, a return of 16 goals last term was good going given he was immediately expected to become the poster boy of United's attack.

However, he has scored just twice in the Premier League this term and is on a run of 10 games without a goal in all competitions. It is impossible for a United team to flourish and progress when they are unable to rely on a prolific No.9.

Despite not being an out-and-out No.9, Zirkzee was drafted in to support Hojlund. His paltry tally of four goals has confirmed he is not good enough.

United should now be make signing a more established and experienced goal-getter a leading objective for the summer. The problem is that prolific strikers cost big-money.

United are having to remain mindful of the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules [PSR], meaning it remains to be seen what size warchest Amorim will be given. Viktor Gyokeres is continuing to be linked with a reunion with Amorim but it is no secret he will cost a pretty penny.

But United need someone who is already a proven goalscorer but still has plenty of years left in the tank. The signings of Hojlund and Zirkzee have proven exactly what it is United are missing most.