Former Man Utd striker tops four-player list Moyes must sign

Man Utd last lost three games in a row 13 years ago and their succession of 2-1 defeats to Tottenham, Swansea and Sunderland had heaped even more pressure on David Moyes in the January transfer window.

The squad that Moyes inherited is best compared to a typical wine cellar, with the top wines past their best, some good wines still too young to truly enjoy and the Liebfraumilch making up the bulk of the remainder.

The early result is that Man Utd are now 13/8 to finish in the top four this season.

A complete clearout may not be the worst approach from Moyes in what is already a period of transition and moving on three or four players while they retain some value is a starting point.

Arsene Wenger has already shown with the likes of Marc Overmars, Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira that he has a shrewd eye for knowing when a star player is set to slowly decline.

Although the decision to sell Robin van Persie was, in a way, out of Wenger’s control, there is an argument that he was sold knowing that the peak had been reached and that a decline wasn’t too far away.

Man Utd have certainly gained one productive season out of Van Persie, but injuries have begun to take their toll again and he is adrift of the likes of Olivier Giroud, Romelu Lukaku and Loic Remy this season in terms of goals, shots per game and key passes.

Looking around Europe, Mario Balotelli may not be high on the list of targets at Man Utd, but it is worth noting that only Luis Suarez shoots more on average per game than the AC Milan man this season.

Meanwhile, if it is a player with a high shot conversion rate that is sought, then Moyes may be best bringing Giuseppe Rossi back to Old Trafford, who has scored 14 goals this season at a rate better than one in every three chances. He is expected back in two months from a knee injury.

In midfield, it is somewhat staggering that not one of Man Utd’s central midfielders have produced a single assist so far this season, while Adnan Januzaj is the only midfielder to have scored more than once.

Antoine Griezmann has netted 12 times from the wing for Real Sociedad, with only Cristiano Ronaldo and Diego Costa the only players to better this tally in La Liga, and he has been linked with Arsenal.