Investigating the best Manchester United strikers to never score 20 goals in a single season.
We all know who the best strikers are in Manchester United history. Wayne Rooney, Denis Law, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dennis Viollet and Tommy Taylor are all among the elites.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Mark Hughes, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole have all put up high numbers, and we have even broken down the top United scorers in each and every decade.
But what about the ‘nearly men’, the strikers blessed with talent who won over the fanbase or flashed potential, but did not quite put up the numbers some of their peers managed.
I decided to examine the history books and work out who is the best striker in Manchester United history to never reach the 20 goal mark in a single campaign for the club…
Solskjaer? Sheringham? Rashford? Berbatov? Cantona? Chicharito? McClair? They all struck 20 goals in a season at least once.
This group of talented players below fell just short…
Tommy Bamford
Tommy Bamford is the greatest goalscorer in Wrexham club history after netting 175 goals in 204 matches, including 51 in a single season.
Manchester United snapped him up in 1934, with the club in the Second Division at the time. Bamford was key to the Red Devils winning promotion in 1935/36.
Bamford played for United for four seasons, scoring 57 goals in 109 games, notching double figures in each campaign, 11, 16, 15, and 15. He was the top scorer for United during the 1930s.
Albert Quixall
Albert Quixall was signed by Sir Matt Busby in 1958 to charge Manchester United’s rebuild after the Munich Disaster. United paid a £45,000 record fee at the time.
Quixall helped United to win the 1963 FA Cup after scoring four goals en route to the Final. He scored 56 goals for the club in total. His highest tally in a single season was 15.
He was lauded as more of a creator than a scorer, striking up a connection with Sir Bobby Charlton and Dennis Viollet.
Stuart Pearson
Manchester United signed Stuart Pearson in 1974 after being relegated to the Second Division, and he played an integral role in the team winning promotion.
Pearson scored 18 of his total 66 games for United that season. He went one better in 1976/77, scoring 19 goals in the top flight.
He helped United to win the FA Cup that season, netting one of the goals in a 2-1 win over Liverpool. Pearson earned 15 caps for England, scoring five goals.
Frank Stapleton
One of the great Manchester United strikers of his era, Frank Stapleton scored 19 goals in consecutive seasons in 1982/83 and 1983/84.
Stapleton scored 78 goals in total for Manchester United, including a decisive goal in an epic European Cup tie against Barcelona in 1984.
Ireland international Stapleton won two FA Cups with Manchester United in ’83 and ’85, and scored in the ’83 Final against Brighton. He was the second highest scorer for United in the 1980s, behind only Bryan Robson.
Louis Saha
Louis Saha was a key player during the mid-2000s as Sir Alex Ferguson turned Manchester United back into a force to compete with the Roman Abramovich-fuelled Chelsea.
Saha was the bridge between the Ruud van Nistelrooy 2003 title winning team and the 2008 Champions League winners.
He played an integral role in the 2006/07 title win and even netted five goals in 2007/08. Saha also scored in the 2005/06 League Cup Final.
Saha’s spell at United was hampered by injuries that prevented him reaching his full potential. The Frenchman scored 42 goals in total, with his best tally in 2005/06 when he scored 15 goals in 30 games.
Carlos Tevez
The third wheel to the 2008 trio with Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez was a key part of the Manchester United forward line that no team in Europe had an answer for.
Tevez’s work rate was just as important as his goals, and in 2007/08 he was just one shy of the 20 mark, netting 19 in all competitions. He scored a total of 34 goals in two seasons.
United signed Dimitar Berbatov a year later which complicated Tevez’s role, before electing not to sign him permanently, prompting him to join rivals City. This soured his reputation with United fans forever, but there is no disputing his contribution while he represented the club.
Michael Owen
Michael Owen’s performances for Manchester United certainly did not live up to comparisons with other players on this list. He is here on a technicality as one of the best strikers to play for United and not score 20 in a season based on his record at previous clubs.
Owen scored 17 goals for United in 52 games, with his best tally coming in 2009/10 when he scored nine goals.
The issue for Owen was his injuries, which made him a shell of the player who once won the Ballon d’Or.
Edinson Cavani
Edinson Cavani may be the most popular name on this list, the right answer of the greatest striker to play for United and fall short of the 20 goal mark.
Cavani signed for United too late in his career, at the age of 33 when he was past his peak. He was still able to deliver a sensational 17-goal season.
‘El Matador’ was a ruthless finisher, shaking off the curse of the number seven shirt that had existed between 2009 and 2020. He could have hit 20 goals if he had a pre-season, had better luck with injuries, and not been given a three-game ban for an Instagram post.
The Uruguayan scored 200 goals for PSG including 49 goals in 50 games in 2016/17, and we can only wonder what might have been if United signed him back when Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/rfk0w17