Mercedes-Benz Arena, Stuttgart, Germany - April 10, 2021, VfB Stuttgart's Sasa Kalajdzic reacts.
Manchester United are weighing up a move for Stuttgart striker Sasa Kalajdzic as a potential alternative to Benjamin Sesko of Red Bull Salzburg.
That’s according to Simon Jones of The Daily Mail.
The lowdown
The Red Devils held talks with the agent of 19-year-old Red Bull Salzburg striker Sesko last week, but the champions of Austria are are thought to want £55m for the Slovenian, which would see him replace Anthony Martial as the fourth-most expensive teenager in football history.
United have already lost Edinson Cavani this summer after he left at the end of his contract, and Cristiano Ronaldo is also pushing to leave the club.
Kalajdzic is notably into the final year of his contract with Stuttgart.
The latest
Jones writes in the Daily Mail that United ‘are considering’ Kalajdzic, as well as Sesko, as they eye a striker signing.
It’s thought that the Austrian would be available for a fee of £17m, just under a third of the mooted asking price for Sesko.
The verdict
Some United fans might see the relatively low price tag and be instinctively underwhelmed, but Kalajdzic looks like a good value option to fill out the squad.
In 2020/21, he scored 16 goals in 33 Bundesliga appearances for Stuttgart, and while he only managed six last season, that was largely because of a shoulder injury which limited him to just 15 outings. His overall record for Stuttgart stands at 24 goals and nine assists in 57 appearances.
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At two metres tall, he could potentially bully defenders. Indeed, he ranks in the 94th percentile among strikers in the top five European leagues for aerial duels won per game over the last 12 months and is similar in profile to Olivier Giroud in profile.
Journalist Marcel Reif says that Kalajdzic can do ‘crazy‘ things in the air, and maybe that would make him a particularly effective impact substitute if United need a goal and want to play direct.
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