The game-changing £16m January signing that will make Man Utd instant top four contenders again

January 2nd; the festivities are thoroughly done, the weather is unrelentingly grim, and the transfer window is freshly open. It is a bad, busy time to be a purveyor of opinion columns on Premier League adjacent speculation. It is also a bad time to be Erik ten Hag, albeit for slightly different reasons.

Christmas was far from the most wonderful time of the year for Manchester United. A gallant Boxing Day comeback at Old Trafford against high-flying Aston Villa was book-ended by away defeats at the hands of West Ham and Nottingham Forest, and as the Red Devils stumble and stagger their way into 2024, they find themselves nine points adrift of the top four having played a fixture more than several of the clubs around them. Things are fairly bleak.

Why that is the case is hard to say, not because the reasons are not obvious, but rather because they are manifold. One particularly troublesome recurring theme, however, is an inability to score goals. So far this season, United have registered just 22 strikes in the Premier League, a tally that is eclipsed by everybody except the bottom two sides in the division, Burnley and Sheffield United. Unsurprisingly, a goal difference of -5 is the worst in the top half, and by some distance too.

United's ongoing impotence is being caused by something of a perfect storm. Their midfielders aren't providing anywhere near the level of service they should be, their wingers bring to mind flightless birds on an airport runway, and their strikers simply aren't striking; summer signing Rasmus Hojlund popping up with a first ever Premier League goal to sink Aston Villa was a lovely moment, but the fact that it felt like a minor Christmas miracle speaks volumes as to his relative ineffectiveness otherwise.

Attacking reinforcements, therefore, feel like a wise and necessary investment in the coming weeks, and to that end, United have already been linked with a deafening salvo of prospective candidates. There's Serhou Guirassy, the Guinean sensation who has blazed his way through the Bundesliga this season. There's Lois Openda, the Belgian sensation who has blazed his way through the Bundesliga this season. There's even Joshua Zirkzee, who, admittedly, is neither Guinean, Belgian, or as comparatively sensational, but who did once play for Bayern Munich. In the Bundesliga.

Arguably, however, the man United should be looking at - in the short term, at least - has no Germanic connections whatsoever. Youssef En-Nesyri has been a rare beacon in an otherwise dour campaign for La Liga stalwarts Sevilla. The Moroccan striker has hit nine goals in 25 outings across all competitions so far this season at a rate of one strike every 207 minutes.

Those numbers may not cause jaws to plummet to floors throughout the land, but it is worth emphasising that the 26-year-old has consistently found the back of the net in a side who have not only crashed out of Europe, but who also, almost inexplicably, find themselves just three points clear of the relegation zone in La Liga. En-Nesyri has thrived in spite of the decay around him.

And what's more, he may be available on the cheap this January. According to The Sun, the Red Devils could prise him away from Andalusia for a fee of around £16 million, with Sevilla eager to lower expenses as they battle the looming spectre of financial difficulty. A reluctant January fire sale might be on the cards for a club who have already sacked two coaches this season, and who still owe unpaid wages to certain employees.

As vulturous as it may seem, United could perhaps benefit from the dire straits of those even less fortunate than themselves. They need a striker, that much is self-evident, and Sevilla, for their part, need money. En-Nesyri may not be the kind of glittering megastar Ten Hag can pin his hopes to for the next decade to come, but certainly, he is more than capable of providing valuable reinforcements as the Red Devils continue to strive for an increasingly improbable top four finish.