Michael Owen reveals shock position Man Utd still need to upgrade despite £108m outlay

Michael Owen has named the main position Manchester United still need to upgrade before August 30 despite more than £100m being spent to do just that over the last two summers.

The Red Devils have made two additions to their squad so far in the shape of centre-back Leny Yoro and attacker Joshua Zirkzee, spending £52m and £36.5m respectively on the pair.

Much is expected of the duo, especially Yoro, although the young defender will miss the first three months of the season after suffering a fractured metatarsal in the first half of the 2-1 pre-season friendly defeat to Arsenal in Los Angeles.

Zirkzee, meanwhile, joined United from Bologna and has the potential to be an ‘important player’ for Erik ten Hag’s men, according to Owen.

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But the former United and England frontman believes his former club still need to dip back into the transfer market and sign another striker before the transfer deadline.

“Joshua Zirkzee could be an important player for Manchester United, but it will be really interesting at the start of the new season to see if they are going to adapt to a certain style of play,” Owen told Casino Hawks.

“Zirkzee doesn’t look prolific in terms of goals but what is for sure is that Manchester United needed bolstering in that position. You look back at the great United teams, they had four top strikers at times.

“Manchester United have just had a dearth of goal scorers in recent years so bringing in a talented player won’t go amiss there.

“The next step will just be to wait and see how he does, but at some point Manchester United are going to need somebody who’s going to bang in plenty of goals like they’ve had with Ruud van Nistelrooy, Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney as well as others down the years.”

Owen still expecting Zirkzee impact

And while Owen is not fully that Zirkzee can score the goals to get United where they need to be, he is still expecting the Netherlands international to make an impact.

He added: “At the moment you can only look at what Zirkzee has done so far and watch this space with him, it isn’t just having another body of quality up there but I think it will be a positive for Manchester United.

“At the moment the manager can hardly change things up there a lot of the time, especially with all the injuries that they have had. If it hasn’t been working then there hasn’t been much to bring on to change.

“So another body is great but even though it’s an exciting signing we need to hold fire and see how he settles in.”

The addition of Zirkzee, added to the £72m United splashed out on Rasmus Hojlund last summer, means it’s highly unlikely that Old Trafford chiefs will fulfill Owen’s wish -especially given the other, more glaring, needs in Ten Hag’s squad.

Another central defender, a right-back and a central midfield remain their focus of attention before the window shuts on August 30.

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Bayern Munich duo Matthijs De Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui remain the favourites to fill those defensive roles, while TT have also revealed a development in the club’s chase for Burnley midfielder Sander Berge.

The Red Devils start the new Premier League season with a home clash against Fulham on Friday August 16.