Man Utd news: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer talks up Harry Kane after being urged to sign Tottenham striker

Target? Harry Kane
Getty Images

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has responded Roy Keane’s plea for Manchester United sign Harry Kane by hailing the Tottenham striker as one of the finest goalscorers in world.

Keane insists the England captain would be the answer to his former club’s problems – and claims it would be ‘easy’ to bring him to Old Trafford.

Speaking after United’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool on Sunday, Keane told Sky Sports: “Go and get Kane from Spurs. Easy, just go and get him. He’d score 20 goals a season for you with his eyes closed.

“He’d score 30 goals a season with his eyes shut. Go and get him. They (Tottenham) are in disarray.”

Solskjaer was diplomatic in his response to his former teammate’s comments ahead of United Europa League clash with Partizan Belgrade on Thursday night. But he admitted his side is lacking a classic goal-scorer in the guise of Kane.

The Norwegian said: “Roy’s quite straight-forward isn’t he? For us it’s working hard, getting Anthony (Martial) back is going to be a massive boost for us and I’m sure when Anthony comes back that’ll help Marcus (Rashford) as well.

“With the forwards we’ve got, with the pace and the skills I’m looking forward to the next few weeks.

“There aren’t many (Robert) Lewandowskis and Harry Kanes. They’re like (Alan) Shearer, (Ruud) Van Nistelrooy - fantastic goalscorers.

“Ours are different types of players, but I have to say I like someone who can finish half a chance and he does that. He’s one of the best, but he’s a Tottenham player.”

In Pictures | Tottenham vs Red Star Belgrade | 22/10/2019

1/16

United are long-term admirers of Kane, who scored his 200th and 201st goals for Spurs and England in Tuesday’s Champions League win against Red Star Belgrade.

Solskjaer accepts he has left himself short in attack after failing to replace the departed Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez in the summer.​ Moussa Dembele and Mario Mandzukic are among the forwards he is considering in January after making a striker his priority when the transfer window opens.

United have failed to score more than one goal in 21 of their last 24 games in all competitions, which underlines the problems Solskjaer has in attack. But he is hoping to put those behind his side here in Belgrade.

The Europa League could be of particular importance to United this season, with the competition increasingly looking like their best route back into the Champions League.

But Solskjaer insists he has not given up on a top four finish, despite his side sitting just two points above the relegations zone.

“I think the Europa League is important for us,” he said. “It’s a tournament, which the last time we were in it we won it. But you can’t rely on a cup tournament on winning it. There might be luck or might be injuries.

“The Champions League for next season is an aim. If it’ s top four or Europa League it doesn’t matter. We’re still not in November and talking about not being in top four at the moment - you’re a little bit early there.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in