Erik ten Hag has suggested that Jadon Sancho could start the season as Manchester United’s central striker to fill in for the injured Rasmus Hojlund. Hojlund is set to miss six weeks with a hamstring injury suffered during the first game of the U.S. tour against Arsenal.
In his absence, Sancho, brought back into the squad following a 10-month exile, was deployed as the No. 9 in Wednesday’s 3-2 victory over Real Betis and Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to Liverpool. And Ten Hag says he could start at centre-forward against Manchester City next week in the Community Shield, and against Fulham on the opening weekend of the Premier League season ahead of new signing Joshua Zirkzee.
When asked if Sancho could start up front versus City at Wembley, Ten Hag replied, “Yes, otherwise we would not play with him there.”
That is what we can do in the event that Rasmus is unavailable. Joshua Zirkzee, on the other hand, is obviously coming in and has begun training, but it will take some time for him to get used to playing English football and adjusting to our style of play.
Naturally, Jadon is a striker as well. We are aware of his wide-ranging ability, but he may also be used as a fake striker.
Zirkzee, a £36.5 million acquisition from Bologna, returned to Carrington following his summer break instead of traveling to the United States and has not trained with the team yet.
After spending the second part of the previous season on loan at Borussia Dortmund, Sancho returned to United and has not scored a goal in a competitive game for the team since May 2023.
Another possibility to cover for Hojlund’s absence is Marcus Rashford, although Ten Hag has said the England striker would continue to play on the left as usual.
Ten Hag stated, “I think Marcus can play as a striker and has done it before, so it is definitely an option.”
