Why We Want Wout Weghorst

Wout Weghorst to Solve United’s Striker Problem?

Perhaps since the departures of Robin van Pierse and Wayne Rooney, Manchester United have struggled to find a solution to an ongoing striker dilemma. January signing Wout Weghorst is the latest attempt to provide some solution to our attacking line. So far the, the towering Dutchman has been able to show a few of his virtues in ten Hag’s system.

However, United fans have had to long sit idly by and watch decades of patch jobs being applied to our front line. We have been fooled by flashy names and false starts like Depay, Di Maria, Falcao, Ibrahimovic, Lukaku, Sanchez, Cavani, Greenwood, Ronaldo. All of them were world class talents with Manchester United at their feet. And all of them, in spite of their talents and previous honors all failed at United.

Further indictment is, for every Ronaldo and Cavani, there is an Odeon Ighalo, Dan James, or now possibly Wout Weghorst. United’s owners have an established history of scraping the bottom of the barrel when they don’t want to spend money. As the club is currently up for sale, it is no surprise that we entered bargain bin trading yet again in this January window.

Sometimes the Bargain Bin Yields a Gem

But, before I allow my Glazer induced Pavlovian pessimism to completely take control, lets break down the Dutchman’s stats. We might just find that there is a player somewhere in that 6’7″ (1.97m) tall frame.

Weghorst has yet to set the score sheet alight, or tangibly impress in any way. However, as ten Hag would tell you, Wout’s impact on the team goes well beyond his goal contribution. Through his eye’s, Weghorst solves different problems that are just as important to the teams success as goals and assists.

The brief tenure Ronaldo had with ten Hag is proof that goal scoring potential is not ten Hag’s greatest concern. It is team cohesion, mentality and playing for one another.

All attributes that Wout brings in spades.

A Brief History on Wout

Some Premier League fans will recognize Wout from his recent attempt to keep Burnley in the league last season.

Before his time at Burnley, Wout played for FC Emmen, Heracles Almelo, and AZ Alkmaar, all in the Dutch top flight. After 186 appearances collectively, Wout managed to score 71 goals and haul 24 assists. Not a bad return. In this time he was recruited to the Dutch national team where he most recently scored during the world cup. He was also appointed co captain during his time at AZ.

In 2018 Wout left his home league to play for German powerhouse Wolfsburg. There he would go on to contribute 74 goals and 22 assists in only 118 games. He was a top five goal scorer in the Bundasliga in three of his four seasons with them.

Weghorst then signed for Burnley from Wolfsberg for $13 million in the summer of 2021. He was immediately thrust into a leadership roll at a sinking ship. At the time they signed him, Burnley were in a relegation battle. Weghorst was expected to give them the goals to help them stay up.

Wout Struggles to Impress With Burnley

But, as United fans are starting to learn, a talisman’s roll is not necessarily Wout’s strength. It would be easy to say that he was thrown into a failing situation, expected to pull the team out of their hole. But he simply wasn’t that kind of player.

He only scored two goals in twenty games.

Burnley needed goals, dominance in set pieces, assists and a leader from the front. They simply chose the wrong kind of player in Wout, to solve those problems. That shouldn’t be a mark against him. In the same way that Ronaldo didn’t fit into ten Hag’s system. He’s still one of the GOATs, he just didn’t work in our team.

Wout’s is a similar, albeit lower profile case. For fans to immediately assume that he will fail at United, is unfair to the player. Once Burnley were relegated, despite Weghorst’s best efforts, rumors were that they couldn’t afford his wages and needed to consider a loan move to supplement his salary. Wout was loaned out to Turkish side Besiktas, to keep him in form as Burnly fight for promotion back to the Premier League.

Weghorst’s Turkish Loan Cut Short

With Besiktas he had managed eight goals in sixteen matches in the first half of the season before attracting the attention of the United hierarchy. Another reasonable return for a player no one is claiming to be world class. His performances saw him guaranteed a spot in the Dutch world cup squad where he was the Oranje’s second leading goal scorer for the 2022 tournament.

Enter Marcel Bout. Yet another dutchman.

Marcel Bout is Manchester United’s chief scout and one of ten Hag’s most important advisors where transfers are concerned.

Manchester United Need Bodies

Given the Glazers are standing with one foot out the door, and there is no money in the war chest to spend, it doesn’t take a genius to guess that they were not going to be spending money this January transfer window.

That being said, United needed players. Dubravka was recalled by Newcastle so, we needed a new backup keeper. Eriksen, Van de Beek and McTominay all picked up long term injuries so, we needed another midfielder if not two. Martial is always injured and Ronaldo petulantly petered the fuck off into overpaid cant hack it oblivion. So, we also need one if not two strikers.

This is where Marcel Bout makes his money. In the past I would have scoffed at Manchester United signing loanees. A club as big as United should never rely on the loan market to fill major gaps in our roster. United is a big enough club with enough resources that we should be turning down hoards of would-be players. Not scraping the bottom of barrel and selling it as hyper selectivity.

Bout and ten Hag Making Lemonade with Weghorst

Alas, here we are. And ten Hag is not just making it work, dare I say he is thriving. Bout lobbied hard for ten Hag to take on Sabitzer and Weghorst, an argument he won.

Let me spell this out in no uncertain terms. Manchester United were offered loan deals in January for Joao Felix, Christian Pulisic, Memphis Depay, Weston McKennie, Antoine Griezmann, Matheus Cunha, Arnaut Danjuma, Pedro Porro, and Keylor Navas.

And these are just the loan options presented to Untied. There were a host of other world class talents offered to ten Hag for purchase. Players like Enzo Fernandez, Cody Gakpo, Benoit Badiashile, Leandro Trossard, Danny Ings and Mykhailo Mudryk,

All of whom moved to clubs where they are respectively doing well.

Ten Hag Loves 4D Chess

Given the opportunity, Erik ten Hag turned down each of those players, so he could sign Sabitzer and Weghorst. If this was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the media and fans would be all over these transfers as forgone failures or forced fodders from the Glazers incompetence. But, ten Hag has earned himself a little leash. All of his signings, even the loan signings, have improved Manchester United.

It is obvious the the United manager has a very clear cut image of how this United team can work. He is playing adult tetris and 4D chess at the same time. With limited resources ten Hag has opted to forgo the opportunity to sign headliner players, simply because they did not fit the mold he is trying to create.

To his credit, this strategy has paid off, proving that team cohesion, mentality and tactics matter far more than the names on the back of the the jerseys. A philosophy that guided Manchester United to decades of dominance under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Ten Hag and Weghorst a Throwback to the Ferguson Era

Like Fergie, think of ten Hag as the the footballing equivalent of a horologist. Every cog, must fit perfectly, every gem must be precisely cut, and the housing must be gossamery yet robust enough to hold such a delicate and powerful machine.

Given his Glazer handicap, ten Hag requires very specific cogs to keep this clock ticking. He is a manager that can design a work of art like a Rolex, but he is being told by the powers that be at United to build a Casio. Unspectacular, popular and in fitting with a consumer culture.

Whether that is more an indictment of the club’s failures or ten Hag making lemonade with lemons is in the eye of the beholder.

Luckily the the Glazers appear ready to sell United. If are sold then fans must hope that our new owners are interested in manufacturing Rolex’s not Casio’s. Until then we are left to the merits of our manager and must continue to succumb to the whim of the Glazers.

Wout Can Do a Job in this Team

This means that fans must see the benefits and qualities of a player like Wout Weghorst rather than rue any lost opportunities or perceived insufficiencies fans may see in him. We have to look at Wout as ten Hag sees him. As a fitting cog for a timepiece that is still being put together with spare parts.

Anyone who has ever tried to ‘MacGyver’ anything in life should be able to appreciate ten Hag’s position. We work with what we’ve got and right now United have Weghorst.

So, if United can do better than Wout. If his signing is circumstantial of an endemic problem at United. If he wasn’t signed for his goal contributions. Then why did we sign Wout? What do Brant and ten Hag see in him that made him worthy to pull on the colors of United?

This is actually an easier question to answer then the criticisms of his signing would imply. Wout may not be the best goal scorer. He may not provide a impressive assist return. And his arial ability would seem suspect considering his height and strength. But if there is a dead horse to beat, these are not the attributes the manager wanted when he signed Weghorst.

Wout Leads the Defense from the Front Line

Wout, surprisingly, is a very good player when viewed through the lens of one simple tactic. That is, the defend from the front. Erik ten Hag has demonstrated that he believes the key to a good defense is defending from the front. He wants to win the ball back quickly, and prevent opposition attacks from even forming.

In this system, playing as a no.10, Wout has been a superb player for ten Hag to call on. His stats from this perspective are some of the best in the league. Despite the fact that he can regularly appear underwhelming on the pitch.

United need a player that thrives out of possession. A player that can hold up play, win the ball back in the attacking third, defend from the front and help to transition the ball quickly. Judged based on this perspective Wout has many of these qualities in abundance.

Deceptively Impressive

He averages 49 successful presses per game and has pressured opposition players more than 280 times in just a few short weeks with United. That is the third highest in the premier league only behind Haaland and Kulusevski. His heat maps show him predominantly in the middle third of the pitch not the attacking third.

Playing mostly as a no.10, he has won more possession in the attacking third than any other United player since his signing. He also has more interceptions in the attacking third than any other United player. Not to mention his running stats rival players like Eriksen, Fred, McTominay and Sabitzer, who tend to cover the most ground per game.

When judging Wout, ten Hag is considering his mentality most of all. Followed by stats such as pressing, possession won in the attacking third, and interceptions. Since signing for United, Weghorst has ranked in the top 5% of players in all European leagues in each of these statistics.

With numbers like that it should be no shock that Weghorst has started nearly every game for United since signing.

Defending from the front isn’t the end of Wout’s impact on the field. As we saw in both Europa League games against Barcelona, Weghorst serves as a decoy. His size and presence mean opposition defenders always need to be aware of him. He draws opposition players out of position both during play and at set pieces. So if all else fails, his presence on the field, even devoid of directly impacting the game, creates opportunity and space for his teammates. All too regularly, that is more than Martial can offer.

Wout a Worthey Steward

United are without Eriksen. With no traditional no.9. Without money to spend. Without Donny Van de Beek or other reliable attack minded midfielder as backup. Cassimero is accumulating yellow cards. Antony and Sancho aren’t firing on all cylinders quite yet. Ronaldo, Cavani, Greenwood all vacated the club in the last 18 months. And we are still burdened with the failures of players like Di Maria, Dan James, Sanchez, Lukaku, Sweinsteiger and Miktaryan.

In the face of all of that adversity, ten Hag has managed to utilize Weghorst as an effective stop gap. So much so that, barring the miraculous and consistent return of Anthony Martial or yet another unprecedented recovery from Eriksen before the end of the season, United are going to continue to be reliant on Weghorst’s mastery of the unspectacular, nitty gritty, hard work that allows his teammates to thrive.

Weghorst’s benefit to United is his willingness to do the work no one else likes to do. He is the garbage man. And when he thrives, he seems to be able to facilitate the success of the players around him. Like a garbage man, it’s not always pretty, but the job gets done.

Knife Fights in the Mud

In a recent pod, Alex and John likened United’s display against Barcelona as a knife fight in the mud. It doesn’t matter how you fight, all that matters is that you get the knife.

Well…Wout is a knife, and while he may be a dull awkwardly shaped knife, he is still a knife, and that is all you need to win a fight.

When Weghorst’s abilities are viewed through these rose tinted lenses it is not hard to imagine why there are rumors of a permanent deal being agreed for him. But, everything I have covered so far is the 100% muppet take. As much as his virtues can be argued, so can his flaws. Flaws that he has not been devoid of showing off on several occasions with United.

He’s slow, terrible in the air, has poor assist and goal returns for a striker, and has little vision for a pass. Given his size and defensive abilities it is shocking he was never transitioned into a center back. Fortunately we have ten Hag at the helm. As long as our bald Dutchman knows how to get the best from our giant Dutchman, then there isn’t much to complain about.

Wout Not an Ideal Solution

Despite my argument in favor of Weghorst, none of us can deny that there are countless other players out there with the same attributes as Wout, but whom are far better and more versatile than him. For a United player, he leaves a lot to be desired. A feeling that has surfaced all to regularly under the Glazer reign. The Glazers simply dont want to invest more into the team, especially during a sale.

But when backed into a corner, beggars cant be choosers. Until we have hundreds of millions of dollars to invest into the team and owners who are not interested in leeching all that is good from our club, players like Wout will continue to provide an important stopgap.

United fans should seek solace not in Weghorst himself, but rather in the fact that we have a manager that knows how to get the best from the team as a whole, including players like Wout. Again, this was the managerial strength that Sir Alex relied on for so many years. And is perhaps the most important ability as a manager.

So, until United are ladened with billions in cash to burn from either a sportswashing or greenwashing new owner, I say lets embrace Wout, not prematurely determine his fate.

Glory, Glory Man Untied.