Dwight Yorke: Manchester United should sign Victor Osimhen straight away | OneFootball

Former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke spoke to Squawka about this weekend’s FA Cup final against Manchester City.

Yorke gave his thoughts on the tactics and system that might work for Man Utd, the Red Devils’ chances of winning the FA Cup and how Ederson’s injury may or may not impact the game.

He also spoke about the future of Erik ten Hag, links to Unai Emery and Rasmus Hojlund’s first season at Old Trafford.

Does Erik ten Hag need the FA Cup to help his chances of being Man Utd manager next season?

I think winning the FA Cup would be a huge boost for United and Erik ten Hag. If any manager comes to a football club and is able to win two trophies in two years, I think they deserve another year. I think if you are to look at his numbers this season from an individual perspective, they’re not good. Getting knocked out of the Champions League like they did and finishing eighth in the Premier League this season with a -1 goal difference are things that will get you sacked as a manager. From that point of view, he probably deserves to go. But, if he were to win the FA Cup and win two major trophies in two seasons, I think from a manager’s point of view I think he deserves to stay. When you look at their goal difference, though, and where United finished in the league itself, it’s a disaster – not good.

Rasmus Hojlund has scored 15 goals across all competitions for Man Utd this season. What have you made of his first year at the club?

You know what, I have probably been a bit harsh with Hojlund by giving him a 5/10 recently – I’d probably give him a 6. I think under the circumstances – he was relatively unknown and I didn’t really know who he was, plus he struggled early on in the campaign and we didn’t know if it was going to turn sour for him – he’s hung in there and started to score some goals towards the end of the season. I think he’s had an above-average season with 15 goals in all competitions, fair play to the kid.

If Man United could make any realistic signing at centre-forward this summer, who would you recommend?

I’d say Victor Osimhen at Napoli. That’s the player I’d go for straight away to sign at number nine at United, we need someone who’s a little bit more known in that position and with a little more presence. We haven’t got that at United at the moment – we’ve got relatively unknown players in attacking positions at the club and it’s not going to work in my opinion.

You recently suggested Unai Emery would make a good Manchester United manager if Ten Hag is replaced. Where do you rank him among current Premier League managers? Would his experience at Arsenal count for or against him if he did move?

I think Emery is one of the best in the Premier League, and that’s why he’s got Villa into the position that they’re in. When you look at the managers available outside of Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta and Jurgen Klopp, Emery is right in amongst that with what he brings to the table. Not only that, but he’s got the experience of being at such a big club like Arsenal, although that wasn’t great for him, but he’s proven that he’s a quality manager and he’s the one of the candidates I’d look at outside of the obvious names that people throw about. I think he’d be a good fit for United.

I’d say United have a 40% chance of beating City in the FA Cup Final. The reality is, though, that City are the best team and they have proven that. They won the treble last year and look like they want to do the double this season. They are obviously favourites going into this game, and quite rightly so, but we know it’s a one-off game and we’ve seen the upset United caused against Liverpool in this competition earlier in the season. United will need to be at their best and a bit of luck on the day will be needed too. If United turn up I think they can give City a game and spring a surprise every so often throughout the tie.

Ederson has been ruled out of the FA Cup final after fracturing his eye socket. Has this boosted Man Utd’s hopes of winning the FA Cup?

I don’t think Ederson missing the final will be an advantage for United at all, the other goalkeeper, Stefan Ortega, has been tremendous since he’s come in! He doesn’t look the same unit as Ederson, it looks like you can score against him, but he’s been absolutely sensational and has made crucial saves. His save against Heung-min Son when they played Spurs away from home was vital in the context of the Premier League title race, and his distribution isn’t bad either. All of that taken into consideration I think he’s done a sensational job, so Ederson being out really doesn’t make much difference for United.

I wouldn’t overload in the wide areas with my full-backs, I think that could be a bit of a disaster. I think we’d probably like to go down the route of playing Aaron Wan-Bissaka in a more defensive role rather than overlapping in attacking areas. I think City are usually great with using the overlap and bring the opposing centre-backs out into wide areas, but that leaves space open to exploit for Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford, so that’d be the way to attack them. I would play two defensive midfielders in Scott McTominay to give me legs and Casemiro to give that experience in the central areas, with Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane, if he’s fit, as an ideal combination at the back. I do think a 4-3-2-1 system would be best to keep us compact in midfield and use the wide players to draw out their centre-backs and attack them 1v1.