Man Utd told they should have signed ‘brilliant’ Premier League striker ahead of Benjamin Sesko

Former England and Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce says Manchester United should have made a move for Jean-Philippe Mateta in the summer.

United made signing a centre-forward a priority before the transfer window opened for business on the back of a disappointing campaign for both Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee, who managed a combined total of just seven league goals last season.

The Red Devils would go on to complete a £73million deal for RB Leipzig for the highly rated Benjamin Sesko, with Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha also joining and Hojlund departing on loan for Napoli on deadline day.

Sesko’s arrival came after weeks of speculation linking United with a host of high-profile No.9s, including Viktor Gyokeres and Liam Delap, who snubbed Old Trafford in favour of Arsenal and Chelsea respectively.

United had also been credited with an interest in Mateta before focusing their attentions on Sesko, but the Frenchman remained at Selhurst Park and has gone on to score four goals in his first ten games of the season.

Sesko, meanwhile, has blown hot and cold in his opening seven appearances for United and has netted just once in that time, with Ruben Amorim’s side languishing down in 14th place.

‘Do you know who I’d have bought, more than anybody else? Mateta, absolutely,’ Allardyce said of the Palace attacker on the latest No Tippy Tappy Football podcast.

‘The centre-forward is absolutely brilliant and why they didn’t buy him, I don’t know, especially when the big strikers are coming back [into fashion].

‘You look at the size of the lad that Newcastle signed [Nick Woltemade], you look at the size of the centre-forwards again.

‘Mateta is winning in a team and winning the FA Cup and getting to Europe and it took him more than a year to do it.’

Allardyce revealed that he tried and failed to sign Mateta when in charge of West Brom before Palace signed the striker on a two-year loan agreement.

‘I was at West Brom trying to get him when I was manager there and Crystal Palace took him, I spoke to Steve Parish about this, because they took him on a two-year loan,’ he explained.

‘His first year at Palace was almost a waste of time and his second year, in the back-end, they signed him up so it took him 12 to 18 months to settle into the Premier League.

‘But there aren’t many centre-forwards as good as he is. Why did nobody go: “Bang!”, Manchester United , because he’s got everything.’

Allardyce believes much of Palace’s recent success is down to the club being ‘one of the best recruitment teams’ in English football.

‘Palace are one of the best recruitment teams in the country because they are also brilliant at recruiting from within this country,’ he added.

‘They are not frightened of going to the leagues below and going, “We’ll buy him! We’ll buy him! We’ll buy him!”… they’ve picked up players for years and years.’

United have failed to win back-to-back games in ten months with Amorim at the helm and Allardyce feels Gareth Southgate has been heavily linked as a possible replacement for the Portuguese.

But Allardyce is dubious about the speculation surrounding Southgate and feels the ex-England boss given he was reportedly the top choice for Dan Ashworth – who has since departed the Theatre of Dreams.

‘It’s not a given that Southgate could be successful at Manchester United because the aspects of day-to-day management are completely different to international football,’ Allardyce went on.

‘When you’re the head coach of United, you’ve got to be able to handle the on and off-field pressure.

‘First and foremost is to get the trust of the players and if he does that and he’s flexible… because they wanted him before.

‘But I thought that – and this is only behind the scenes and I don’t know the exact facts – that Gareth was who Dan Ashworth wanted and that’s why Dan Ashworth lost his job.

‘Dan Ashworth isn’t there anymore so I wonder if Gareth is high on the list or it’s just a bit of pushing from the press.’