Manchester United haven't had a 20-goal striker since Robin van Persie fired them to the Premier League title in Sir Alex Ferguson's final season; Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo came close but United trail their rivals in this stat; could Joshua Zirkzee or Rasmus Hojlund do it?
Wednesday 28 August 2024 14:42, UK
One cause for concern for Manchester United in recent years is how they find a player who can score 20 Premier League goals in a season.
Incredibly United have not had a player score 20+ league goals in a season since Robin van Persie in 2012/13. The Dutchman scored 26 Premier League goals that season in what was United's last league title win.
Since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, 10 teams have had players score 20+ Premier League goals in a season. Man City are top, with four players reaching that milestone - Sergio Aguero (five times), Erling Haaland (twice), Yaya Toure and Raheem Sterling.
Liverpool - who United face live on Sky Sports at 4pm on Sunday - have also had four different players hit 20 goals in a single campaign across the last 11 seasons - Mohamed Salah (four times), Sadio Mane, Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez.
Below is a list of all the clubs that have had players score 20+ Premier League goals in a season since 2013/14.
One of the main reasons why Ruud van Nistelrooy was appointed Ten Hag's assistant this summer was to address this sorry statistic. Van Nistelrooy scored 20+ goals in all four of his injury-free Premier League seasons of 2001/02, 02/03, 03/04 and 05/06.
The most Premier League goals scored by a Man Utd player since 12/13 is 18 goals by Bruno Fernandes (20/21) & Cristiano Ronaldo (21/22).
Last season Man Utd's top scorers were Fernandes and Rasmus Hojlund, who both scored 10 league goals each - it was the fewest league goals by a Man Utd top scorer in a season in 50 years, since Sammy McIlroy scored six goals in 1973/74.
Overall, Van Nistelrooy scored 150 goals in 219 appearances for United, including 95 in 150 Premier League appearances between 2001-06. He remains Manchester United's best minutes-per-goal scorer in Premier League history, averaging a goal every 128 minutes.
In Man Utd's Premier League history, they have had 10 occasions where a player has scored 20+ league goals in a season, with Van Nistelrooy accounting for 40 per cent of these occasions. Wayne Rooney (twice), Van Persie, Dwight Yorke, Dimitar Berbatov and Ronaldo are the other players to have hit that mark.
Last season United scored 57 Premier League goals in total - only twice had they scored fewer in a Premier League season. They scored the same number of goals as Crystal Palace last season and scored only five more goals than relegated Luton. Their 57 goals were 39 goals shy of Man City's total of 96 goals and 34 short of Arsenal's tally of 91.
One player brought in this summer to try to address this problem is 23-year-old Dutchman Joshua Zirkzee, signed from Bologna for £36.5m in July. The 6ft 4in forward scored 26 minutes into his United debut, scoring the winner in the opening-day win over Fulham. He was Bologna's top scorer last season with 11 Serie A goals and was named Serie A's best young player last season.
One of Zirkzee's main features last season was him wanting the ball - his desire to drop deeper and attempts to link up play meant he averaged 49.5 touches per 90 mins in Serie A, no other recognised centre-forwards ranked higher in Serie A (minimum 900 mins played). This compares with Hojlund's 28 touches/90 in PL last season. Zirkzee also averaged 4.3 dribbles/90 which again was a Serie A high by centre-forwards.
In the short term United will be looking for a player to score against Liverpool this weekend and a favourable statistic is that Marcus Rashford has scored seven goals in his last nine appearances against Liverpool at Old Trafford.
Will he be the one to lead from the front for United on Sunday?
Watch Man Utd vs Liverpool live on Sky Sports Premier League; kick-off 4pm
