Why Manchester United must forget Willian and sign Dries Mertens instead

With the transfer window set to slam shut in another week or so, there has been a flurry of activities among all the Premier League clubs. Manchester United embarked on a high as they wrapped up deals for Fred, Diogo Dalot and Lee Grant.

However, since then, the club appear to have reached a stagnation with respect to recruiting new players. Jose Mourinho and his men finished as runners-up in the previous season but it goes without saying that they have a lot of areas that need to be strengthened further.

Now, the Red Devils have been linked with a move for Chelsea star Willian. A report from The Sun had claimed that Mourinho is keen on reuniting with the Brazilian attacker. However, recently, it has also emerged that Dries Mertens is a target for United. (Daily Star)

Both players are exceptionally talented and they would undoubtedly go a long way in bolstering United’s attacking forces. But with Willian looking increasingly likely to move to Barcelona, perhaps Mourinho should abandon his pursuit of Willian and go for Mertens instead.

Daily Star has also claimed that Napoli are willing to accept a fee in the region of £35million, which is quite economical. The Belgian star might be 31 years of age but his performances have certainly shown no signs on slowing down.

If anything, he has only gotten better with time and his displays for his club, as well as country, have been fantastic. In fact, over the course of the previous term, Mertens scored 19 goals and supplied 7 assists in 40 appearances for Napoli across competitions.

The Naples-based outfit came quite close to causing a nasty upset by beating Juventus to the Serie A title but the Old Lady came through in the end. Nevertheless, Mertens played a big role in the club’s successes and he was quite influential for Belgium in the recent World Cup as well. His credentials and skills look solid enough for Mourinho to sign him this summer.

Given his pacy nature of playing attractive attacking football, Mertens should be an instant hit at Old Trafford.

Read More: Enough is enough: Why Manchester United must let Juventus to re-sign this World Cup-winning star

Furthermore, United have a plethora of wingers right now. With players like Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Alexis Sanchez, Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata in the mix, it would be better for the club to invest in another centre-forward to ease the burden on Romelu Lukaku.

Hence, bringing in the former Everton star’s compatriot could provide a new dimension to United’s attack since Mourinho will have the added advantage of utilizing a two-striker formation as well.