Ruben Amorim will have to work with the existing Manchester United squad for six weeks before the winter transfer window opens in the new year

Ruben Amorim has just been handed his first Manchester United transfer move

by · Manchester Evening News

Manchester United's first 15 matches of the season have highlighted their goalscoring problems, and Ruben Amorim's last home game in charge of Sporting has shone a spotlight on the obvious answer.

On Tuesday night at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, Viktor Gyokeres scored three goals against Manchester City as Pep Guardiola's side lost 4-1 in Lisbon. That is the same number Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee have managed in their 25 combined appearances this season.

That hat-trick took Gyokeres to 23 goals in 17 games since the current campaign started, and only three less than United have scored themselves across all competitions. Discounting the domestic cups, the Sporting striker has six more in the league and Europe than the Reds.

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For all the question marks about Liga Portugal's competitiveness, Gyokeres' five goals in four Champions League games compared to United's five from their three outings in the Europa League emphasises their struggles in front of goal. Speculation is already starting about Zirkzee returning to Italy in the new year, and United were short on strikers before signing the 23-year-old this summer.

Gyokeres is the obvious answer as Europe's most in-form goalscorer. Amorim has acknowledged that United will not sign players from Sporting during the winter transfer window but did not extend that promise to next summer.

It is then that he expects the striker to leave Lisbon. "Viktor has to stay until the end of the season, and then his life is going, maybe, somewhere else," he said after the match.

United paying a sufficient transfer fee for Sporting to sell their striker would always be unlikely in January anyway. So, there may be a wait for the first signing following Amorim's arrival, but it appears delaying that decision for Gyokeres will be worthwhile.