Joe Cole suggests the player Manchester United should have signed last summer

Joe Cole suggests that Manchester United missed out on a golden opportunity by not signing England striker Ivan Toney last summer.

United expressed interest in signing Toney along with Premier League rivals Chelsea and Arsenal.

Toney was put up for sale by Brentford as he entered the final 12 months of his contract in west London.

The 28-year-old scored 72 goals in 141 appearances for the Bees, including 20 in the 2022-23 Premier League campaign.

Toney’s Brentford career was put on halt in May 2023 when he was found guilty of 232 breaches of the FA’s betting rules and banned from football for eight months.

He struggled upon his return but was still taken to Germany for Euro 2024 and played a small but crucial role in England’s run to the final.

Toney did not feature for Brentford this season before being sold to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli on transfer deadline day for around £40m.

An incredibly lucrative move to Saudi proved too good for Toney to turn down but Cole believes Manchester United should have offered him a huge move to Old Trafford.

United signed Netherlands forward Joshua Zirkzee over the summer as well as Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, Manuel Ugarte and Leny Yoro.

Zirkzee and the rest of Manchester United’s forwards have endured an underwhelming start to the season, scoring just five goals in seven games.

‘Manchester United got gun-shy in the transfer window,’ ex-England star Cole told Paddy Power. ‘I think Ivan Toney is a cracking player, and he is exactly what Manchester United need. His personality can comfortably play for a top side.

‘It’s smart from United to take stock and when you’ve got a manager at the helm who’s indifferent, you might really fancy another manager to come in and they might want another striker.

‘Then you’ve got to get another player out to get another one in so it’s smart business but if I was Manchester United and had the job tomorrow, I would’ve said, “I need Ivan Toney” and I would’ve made it happen.’

Goal-shy United have won just two of their opening seven Premier League games, a run of form leaving the club 14th in the table and closer to the relegation zone than the top-four.

But Cole expects Manchester United to stick with Ten Hag, claiming if he was getting the chop ‘they would have done it by now’.

‘For Manchester United, if the manager that the board are wanting to bring in to replace Erik ten Hag was available, then I think they would have done so,’ Cole added.

‘But I feel like because they haven’t done it by now, that would suggest to me that he’ll be staying at Old Trafford for the foreseeable. Erik ten Hag has got another stay of execution, so the results must pick up.

‘Earlier this week, we saw Gareth Southgate mention that he didn’t want to coach anywhere for at least a year after leaving England, so it must be a strategic move from INEOS, where either the person they want isn’t available, or they want to persist with Ten Hag.

‘Regardless, this gives the manager another chance, and he’ll be hoping that he can get his players back fit from the international break, he gets some players returning from injury, but he needs to start winning, because if he doesn’t, then we’ll get to the point where his position will be untenable.

‘There’s a lot of pressure on him from the fans, but I think he’s dodged a bullet by not getting the sack because I think if they would have done it, it would have been done already.’

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