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Last weekend’s transfer story was the possible move of Orange international Wout Weghorst to Manchester United. The striker is currently on loan from Burnley at Besiktas, but United manager Erik ten Hag is keen to sign him in the second half of the season.
“A smart move,” says Arno Vermeulen Study Soccer. “They don’t have a pinch hitter, no player for Plan-B and we know it’s very important nowadays. Many clubs have this problem. Barcelona have the same thing. They could have kept Luuk de Jong better. To get such a player who he can play anywhere he’s smart, it’s a small market.”
‘Bring Weghorst to Manchester United dangerous move from Ten Hag’
Pierre van Hooijdonk doesn’t see a classic pinch hitter in the man who scored twice against Argentina as a World Cup substitute. “I think more of a Luuk de Jong if you’re looking for a pinch hitter. I don’t see the ram or the nip in the air at Weghorst. He can work excellently around that, as he showed at the World Cup.”
Besiktas knows nothing
Weghorst scored Besiktas’ second goal on Saturday night against Kasimpasa (2-1) and he celebrated his goal extensively with fans. She touched the club logo, made a heart and waved. A goodbye? Several media thought so. Besiktas, on the other hand, said they knew nothing.
John van ‘t Schip understands Ten Hag’s possible choice for Weghorst: “Bring energy every time, so that something changes in the attack.” Ibrahim Afellay agrees: “He IS a player you bring when you want to force something.”
“They don’t have a real striker at United,” says Vermeulen. “There’s a bit of poverty in this sense. They all have strikers who prefer to come from outside. They want at least one real striker.”
A new feature in Studio Voetbal: the Muurligger, a spoken column by writer and columnist Hugo Borst. The first edition concerns Wout Weghorst.
De Muurligger: all fake with Wout Weghorst
“I think it’s a pretty dangerous move by Ten Hag,” says Van Hooijdonk. “He takes a Dutchman who also played in England, at Burnley, and he didn’t play roof tiles there. He scored two goals and was relegated. Then you immediately got a stamp there.”
“Weghorst doesn’t care,” says Vermeulen. Van Hooijdonk: “If Manchester United wanted me, I’d be angry about that too.”
Watch the final signal on Hachim Mastour (by Frank Heinen) below and talk about Alfred Schreuder’s position at Ajax and the appointment of Nigel de Jong as director of football at the KNVB.
