Liverpool’s Julian Ward broke the hearts of many Manchester United fans when the Reds’ transfer guru helped his club sign Cody Gakpo ahead of the January transfer window opening.
Erik ten Hag was questioned about the missed opportunity before the official confirmation and provided a somewhat coy set of responses.
“I’m not talking about individual cases,” the former Ajax boss told Amazon Prime (via Team Talk).
“We are looking for offensive players, we are looking for a striker. It would be good because the games come, there are so many, every third day.
“It’s difficult. We want to play in all the leagues we’re in, so we hope to keep going. [in them] until the end of the season, but for that we need numbers in the squad to cover everything”.
The 23-year-old is the first signing of the Merseysiders’ winter window and a recent spate of reports seems to suggest he won’t be the last if the first half of his campaign is taken into account.
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It’s a sign of the contrasting fortunes of the two clubs (despite what the league table may suggest) with Liverpool beating another league rival for an attacking goal in January, having previously outbid interest from Tottenham for the incorporation of Luis Díaz last year.
There are, of course, plenty of signs from the Old Trafford-based team under Ten Hag’s management that suggest they are a team on the rise.
However, it looks like Manchester United fans will have to be patient with their hopes of seeing the Red Devils go toe-to-toe with their old rivals on the pitch and, more importantly, in the transfer market.
