Rarely does one hear talk about signing a player from a local rival but Manchester United has been rumbling for weeks about their possible pursuit of the striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin of Leeds United in January if the situation allows.
The Athletic’s sources say that despite the fact the 29-year-old is a long-term target of United the current injury issues have put him on the radar.
Benjamin Šeško, United’s main attacking threat, has been suffering from a shin problem that is likely to hold him up until January. The 22-game season for Šeško in this case is an indication of how quickly the issue is going to prevent his return. Zirkzee is the only natural strikers that the club has right now and hence the pressure for a forward is on.
Since his transfer to Leeds United, Calvert-Lewin has become a dominant figure not only as the captain, but also the leading scorer as the team has made a lot of improvement. Leeds fans will remember with joy that he scored for them against their main domestic rivals Liverpool as well as United’s biggest rivals Manchester City. That physical and aerial capability is exactly the type of feature the United’s fans have been asking for in their striker lately.
The main stumbling block in the possible deal though appears to be Leeds’s reluctance since Calvert-Lewin seems to be the main man for goal scoring as the club has been doing quite well without an outright star at striker.
United may also be reluctant to go through the hassle since it’s quite a rare occurrence for the fans to accept that their beloved heroes have gone straight to one of the local rivals. The last time this happened was in 2004 with Alan Smith and he has had such a bad press from United faithfuls that some even claim that Manchester United should never have allowed him to leave the grounds.
Not only was Calvert-Lewin a player of the week and was highly rated as a striker for both clubs, which he played for but he even managed to score against one of United’s bitter adversaries.
Naturally, the main argument for Calvert-Lewin is that he offers a kind of power and speed at the box that United are currently missing. His ability from a cross is also something that a team like United which relies a lot on crossing should have.
It is still a bit strange however for Leeds fans to think of giving up one of their top scorers if Leeds themselves are not convinced with his contribution to the team.
Leeds have also been very firm on Calvert-Lewin staying and United may not even be able to get past the valuation hurdle, unless Leeds themselves would make the deal easier for Manchester United.
With Šeško missing a large slice of the season at this stage and the club only have another forward as a target, United might just decide to make one last push for Calvert-Lewin who they had once considered but decided that they would rather have Šeško instead.
